It's M.E. - Roses & Rust (2021) [CD Rip]

The band from Hanover was founded in 1991, when Martina Maschke and Ecki Hüdepohl started as a duo, vocals and piano. In 1997 the band It's ME was actually born . (ME stands for Martina and Ecki ). A first record was released as a trio in 1998.

Most recently I presented the records Bite Of The Fox (2011) and Essence - The Best Of II (2019). With "Roses & Rust" it goes now, for the thirtieth anniversary of the band. So far, the band has offered music in the field of tension between blues, boogie, blues rock, rock, rhythm'n'blues and pop.

In boogie mode, the record starts with "Next Stop Is The Top" at the »… crowed railway station…« The rhythm is shaken out of my sleeve quite easily, here I am spontaneously in the mood of a record by John Mayall , "Jazz Blues Fusion ". And a good trace of jazz is also brought in here, solely through the solo of the electric piano. Martina Maschke brings the text across very cool and snugly.

"My Father's House" stays in the blues area, but not pure and unadulterated in expression, but traces of pop and soul are the encores and exactly this mixture is also found in the singing, so the song is made up of three components. The most prominent bluesy element comes from Jan Mohr's guitar solo . Already with "Bite Of The Fox" I noticed that the strength of Martina's singing seems to be in a soul-oriented direction, and that is reflected in the correspondingly oriented songs on the record.

All in all, the versatility of the music in "Roses & Rust" should also be emphasized. "Finally Driving Home Tonight" exudes a hint of jazzy feeling, whenever the song is taken back a little and gently floats. This title is a successful mix of pop and jazz, decorated with an elegant piano solo. Yes, if there had been a real string arrangement here! "Sad And Beautiful Misty Morning" exudes a similar feeling. I like the alignment of these two pieces very much because they radiate a very harmonious atmosphere and also offer an ideal platform for the voice here, which for me even fits a little better than the soulful environment!

"House By The River" is introduced with a whistle and sounds as if Randy Newman had a hand in the composition, it is a loosely bouncing pop song with aspiration. Other influences also come from gospel (# 7), whereby From my point of view, the message of "God Created Man" is not spread as fluently and powerfully as you know it from gospel, this number is not necessarily one of the best on the record for me, here the whole thing seems a little stiff, too the growls in Martina's voice seem exaggerated and not credible / conclusive.

The blues is picked up again with "Jack Of Diamonds And The Queen Of Hearts", "Some More Color" and it gets rocky with "Everything You Need", here too it is again the too pressed vocals that bothers me, and for At the end of a very short ballad with "Almost A Lifetime", basically instrumental, with the only vocal line of the song title, a shame, this piece could have been lengthened a little on a romantically inspired track. Otherwise, all texts can be found in the booklet for reading (or singing).

So you experience a colorful and entertaining mixture, which is presented musically on the whole very convincingly, full of passion, for me with some special highlights and other tracks that could not fully convince me. ~Wolfgang Giese