Of late, probably inspired by this year’s fantastic album and live show by Firebird, Bill Steers mighty blues machine, I’ve been listening to a fair old amount of classic rock and blues. This need for non metal guitar work has been further fed in the last couple of weeks by BBC’s digital channel pumping out classic blues sessions from their archives, as well as documentaries on the British Blues scene.
As such, Dorado, the second album by Madrid four piece, Eldorado, was a pleasant and unexpected surprise from the editor. Fortunately I received the version with English lyrics, a Spanish version being available too. Somehow, I’d never associated that country with classic rock, but Eldorado are definitely a band who have immersed themselves in classic 70’s acts like Bad Company and Humble Pie. CD opener, ‘The House of the 7 Smokestacks’, both in guitar work and lyrical themes could easily have hailed from a bygone era of flairs and mono record players, but adds into the mix modern production techniques that mean every note comes through clearly, the rasp edged vocals of Jesus Trujillo playing expertly against the guitars, bass and drums of the band’s other three members. Simple but catchy riffs that wouldn’t disgrace classic Stones or Faces albums abound in ‘The Rocket Song’ and ‘Falling Falling’, the latter’s melancholy pace matching the pained lyrics.
Midway through the album, acknowledging to the full the roots of their sound, Eldorado fire out a stomping version of ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’, a Ray Charles classic from the sixties that over the years has been various covered by Humble Pie and Styx, and mangled in the eighties by W.A.S.P. The band’s class and heritages shines throughout the five minutes plus of the song, from the thumping bass to the guitar and vocal breakdown that precedes the final chorus. More classic influences abound with Southern rock styling breaking out in ‘The Worst of Myself’ with its countrified guitar, and ‘Free (A Chain Reaction)’ with its Lynyrd Skynyrd swagger.
This truly is an album for the fan of vintage rock, the influences of the past being imbued with an energy of the present. From the first track to the last, class just oozes from every song.
http://www.myspace.com/eldoradorockband
http://www.eldoradorockband.com
