Far too many blues-rock bands sound like Blueshammer, the hackneyed faux-blues band featured in a key scene from the film Ghost World, who serve up lame, uninspired riffs swiped from
Jimmy Page, who himself swiped them from
Mississippi Fred McDowell. In truth,
Five Horse Johnson isn't really that far from this depressing prospect; their relationship to the blues is only slightly firmer than that of the
White Stripes, and they sound more like early
Black Crowes or '70s
ZZ Top than
Howlin' Wolf, or even the
Eric Clapton-era
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. On the other hand,
ZZ Top and the
Black Crowes are fine bands, and
Five Horse Johnson have a similarly loose, lubricated sound, and devil-may-care attitude that puts across even the more pedestrian songs. At their best, as on the blistering "Sweetwater," and the more laid-back, -'70s-style choogle "Boogie Coalition Approved,"
Five Horse Johnson achieve a noisy rock and roll power that's far removed from the sterile "tasty licks" attitude that so many similar bands fall victim to. ~ Stewart Mason