Andy De Rosa & Electric Mojo's debut album Unscathed" (2009), is an epitome of early American Southern Rock and Roots music, which encompasses sub-genres of Blues, R&B, Jazz, Country, Funk and Boogie Rythms. These styles of music first hailed from the deep American South and became mainstream in the Southern United States during the 1950's and early to mid 1960's, with the prominence of artist such as Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others. But by the time of the British Invasion, the focus of rock music shifted away from the rural south to the larger cities with the evolution of folk and psychedelic rock of the mid-late 1960's. At which time much of the rock, including southern rock became enmeshed into corporate arena rock and a newer wave of glam metal, progressively tapping off from the original southern roots. However, by the tail end of 1960's and early 1970's, Southern Rock revitalized with bands coming to the fore such as the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynrd, the Black Crowes, Creedence Clear Water Revival and Blind Melon, to name just a few! Who began exemplifying both the early Southern Roots with the Brit psychedelic-folk rock producing a new hybrid sound by incorporating long jams emphasizing boogie rhythms and fast guitar hooks more aligned with the hard rock, with the intensity of lyrics relevant to the concerning values of young Southern working class adults, which quickly gained in popularity and once again turned the attention to bands from the South. Ultimately spreading across the United States and into the United Kingdom and beyond, as far flung as Austrailia with bands such as AC/DC. "Unscathed" (recorded by Andy De Rosa's UK band), embraces all of these stylistic forms of music and progressions to some slight degree in reflection of each of these musical genres that has influenced Andy's writing and musicial skills. While precisely keeping it all tightly within the original southern origin, which makes this album a fine cross pollination of early Brit and Southern American style root music.
"Unscathed" includes 3 songs "Not Ready To Change", "Living On The Road" and "The Lude Trip" from Andy's first (2007) solo acoustic album "Watching The Hands Of Time". All of which have been reconditioned with the use of electric guitars with tremolo/vibrato effects, producing a variation in amplitude to allow the richness of the songs to really shine through, which are well played with precision intrumentation and just the right amount of speed and intensity, without being so loud and overplayed that it drowns out the music. Which is often a common mistake with some of the young bands attempting to perform this style. Well done!
"On A Journey" and "Good Times And Bad Times" are jazzy upbeat feel good sounding songs, that clearly define some of the evoluntionary progressions, which should fluently fit right into the universal market with strong appeal. "Like A Storm" has a traditional folk essence with eligant background vocals performed by Aimee De Rosa. "Deeper Than Anything" unfolds with a fuzzed out psychedelic quiddity, Whilst, "Thats Alright" and "What Goes Around" tap directly into the Southern Roots of Rock "N" Roll.
Andy De Rosa and Electric Mojo are a solid band producing some high quality rootsy music! If you haven't gotten a taste of them yet, I strongly recommend the purchase of "Unscathed".
Reviewed by: Jan (editor)
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