Little Caesar formed in 1987. In their heyday around 1990, they opened up for such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss and Iggy Pop. Things took a dive after 1992, since when they’ve released nothing until now. I have to say at this point that “Soulful Hard Rock” isn’t what I normally listen to, so I wasn’t sure what my reaction was going to be. Reading that they compare themselves with Free and Bad Finger was encouraging. I realise though that this won’t do much for you unless you’re about 50 or a rock music historian.
What I heard was pleasant, flamboyant West Coast rock – “happy music, not like some of the heavy metal that you play”, observed Mrs D. The opening track “Same Old Story” is inoffensive and melodic. Stylistically, it sounded to me like ZZ Top, which is not such an inappropriate comparison as Little Caesar are a biker band. “Supersonic” is similiarly melodic but softer, sounding more like Huey Lewis, Graham Parker and the Rumour and a post-Beatles mix. Another side of the band is displayed from “Loving You is Killing Me”. There’s a tinge of the blues here, which will come out more as the album progresses, particularly on the title track. “Loving You is Killing Me” has good feeling and movement and reminded me a little of Robert Plant’s “Addicted to Love”. It shuffles along nicely and has a good funky solo. “Witness Stand” carries on in this mould – bluesy hard rock with a nice catchy riff. I thought at one point it was going to blend into a T. Rex song – Little Caesar do covers as we later are to find out – but we get a colourful guitar solo instead. This is toe-tapping stuff. The title track “Redemption” lives up to its billing of “soulful blues rock”, and has a harmony which belies the biker image. In fact it’s almost a gospel style but where it might be expected to go in this direction, the band veer away from this and the song works smoothly into a dreamy (in a hard rock sense) guitar passage. This wasn’t my thing really but I did appreciate the control. “Sick and Tired”, a short song, has a deep melody and moves along like a train, and is followed by an inevitable rock n roll track “Real Rock Drive”. The rhythm guitar comes straight from the Rolling Stones repertoire – ah, nostalgia. It’s fine, and precedes “That was Yesterday”, a reflective bluesy “train bound for nowhere” sort of track. The wistful vocals and instrumental line gave me visions of a smoky room, and a man strumming his guitar.
For the next two tracks, the emphasis changes as the band perform two covers. Or that should be three really as “Every Picture Tells a Story / Happy” is a hybrid of a Rod Stewart and a Rolling Stones number. I don’t know either too well, to be honest, but what we get sounds like a combination of the Faces and the Stones, so that’s not surprising really, especially as Little Caesar themselves have certain similarities in instrumental style with Mr Richards, Wood and co. At the end it speeds up and we’re treated to an entertaining and dynamic rock guitar cameo. We then have “Woodstock”. I have mixed feelings about this one. Is it the wrong place and the wrong time? Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” is a great song, appropriate to its time, and as for the version by Matthews Southern Comfort, it just spooks me out. It belongs to that time 40 years ago. At least this version gave me the opportunity to check it out on YouTube, and capture the spirit of that famous festival and all that went with it. It happened a little bit before my time and in another place but even so it’s a piece of history which can’t be changed. So, against this backdrop, I listened to Little Caesar’s version of it. Of course it sounds like Little Caesar and to be fair, it’s powerful and they make it into a pumping, bluesy number but although it touched on the mystical quality of the original versions, it didn’t make it and was probably best left alone. The disappointment of “Woodstock” was not compensated for by the final track “Just Like a Woman”, not the Bob Dylan song, it should be said. The Little Caesar version is a similarly acoustic, “lazy days” piece of Blues but for me it didn’t add anything and was just dreary.
This album certainly has a vibe to it, and leaving aside the last part of the album, “Redemption” is a very pleasant and accessible listening experience, and has a feel-good factor about it. Some songs are reflective, some are lively and I could appreciate the sentiment stated in the sleeve notes that the aim is not to impress us listeners, but to move us. The songs are largely well-thought out and therefore easy to be part of. All of this is proof that it doesn’t matter what your preferred musical style is. If it’s got the quality, you want to listen. For most of “Redemption”, I was a very willing listener.
http://www.myspace.com/littlecaesarband
http://www.rockcandyrecords.com
