Mellow Bravo - Mellow Bravo

  by Andrew Carver

published: 25 / 7 / 2012

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Mellow Bravo hail from Boston, and pitch their sound straight out of the early 1970s, with singer Keith Pierce’s bellowing honk well-accompanied by the blurting harmonica and bluesy guitar of opener ‘Sad Sam’. The band’s self-titled sophomore album isn’t all bell bottoms fetishism however - on ‘Where The Bodies Lay’ is nicely contrasted by keyboardist Jess Collins gentler sounds, and the heavy guitars truly kick in on ‘Ridin’, where Collins also gets to bring her tougher side into the spotlight on top of a Fu Manchu-styled riff. Things get pulled back for the piano-driven, soulful sentiments of ‘When I’m In Pain’. Chunky riffs and vibes are blended to great effect on the mid-tempo burn of ‘Lioness’, though Pierce’s yowl begins to flirt with “acquired taste” territory. A melancholy mood permeates ‘Senorita’, which has something of a ‘November Rain’ feel, down to the tasty guitar solo.Soon it’s back to the southern rocking with ‘Love Hammer’, which is about as subtle as it sounds, and the poppier ‘Shake Shake Shake’. The jangling ‘Prairie Dog’ swings to a country porch feel, wedded to a tale of runaways and domestic violence. ‘Mellow Bravo’ ends up being a pleasantly diverse slab of rock; not a game-changer, but a good listen for anyone who likes their bar band rock to get out of its rut.

Track Listing:-

1 Sad Sam
2 Where the Bodies Lay
3 Ridin
4 When I'm in Pain
5 Lioness
6 Senorita
7 Love Hammer
8 Shake Shake Shake
9 Prairie Dog
10 Leave When You Please
11 Big Block

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/mellowbravo/
http://mellowbravo.tumblr.com/
https://mellowbravo.bandcamp.com/

Label Links:-

http://smallstone.com/
https://twitter.com/ssrecordings
https://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/SmallStoneRecords
https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/

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