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John Hammond
READY FOR LOVE
(BACK PORCH)

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On his 29th disc, and after 40 years in the business, 60-year-old John Hammond has recorded his first original tune, and it’s a killer. "Crown Vic" and the rest of Ready for Love are in the spirit of the blues tunes Hammond has been selecting and interpreting since the 1960s folk-blues heyday, but with their hint of menace and their wild-eyed power, these numbers are more moving than anything else he’s recorded. Anything, that is, except 2001’s "Wicked Grin," the fine set devoted to Tom Waits tunes that allowed Hammond to shed the shackles of a pure blues revivalist. He still boasts an understated guitar mastery and an increasingly gruff voice, but now he’s taking chances and becoming appealingly unhinged.

Keyboard vet Augie Meyers (Dylan, Sir Douglas Quintet) and drummer Stephen Hodges (Fabulous Thunderbirds) propel Hammond as he takes on songs by Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, Waits, George Jones, and Willie Dixon, moaning and grumbling and repeating ominous lines as though in a trance. He even spits and yowls his way through the Billie Holiday classic "Comes Love." Although the George Jones covers are not up to the standard he sets elsewhere, Hammond is sounding as good as ever.

BY BILL KISLIUK

Issue Date: February 27 - March 6, 2003
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