Babajack - Rooster (2012)

The much anticipated third album from this amazingly different band will not disappoint, due to be launched in March anyone catching them live will be able to purchase a copy early. BabaJack have managed to capture the vitality and originality of their live show onto this studio album.

BabaJack are a trio with the component parts are greater than the sum of the three as they play off each other. The rearrangements on the album, these are not covers but great songs given the BabaJack treatment especially ‘Gallows Pole’. The self-penned tracks are clever combining strong lyrics and the glorious vocals of Becky Tate, and the deep warm tones of the double bass whether played by traditional plucking or using the horsehair bow delivered with French style and panache by Marc Miletitch another layer of sound is introduced by seductive blues guitar playing by Trevor Steger whether using traditional acoustic or self made wine box guitars.

The other dimension that cannot be ignores is Becky’s percussive talents on the Cajon (Spanish for box) and Djembe an African hand drum. No track is the same they all strengths and a story to tell, if pushed for a couple that stand out it would have to be ‘Gallows Pole’, ‘Skin and Bone’ and the title track ‘Roosters Blues’. For the purist this may not be Blues, yet the very essence of the blues is found in every track, from instrumentation, lyrics and the use of African beats taking the music back to the homelands of the slaves displaced in America that created our ‘traditional blues’! This is a five star recording and could well be the CD of 2012, why? They have set the standard very high.