Ben Racine Band 2012 One Of A Kind 01 One Of A Kind

Текст песни "Ben Racine Band 2012 One Of A Kind — 01 One Of A Kind"

Written on Oct 18
Review One of a Kind by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
I have to admit I really love Debut releases and I am really loving the Ben Racine Band’s debut release “One Of A Kind”. In fact I love this one so much, I was finding it hard to do a review on because I just couldn’t tear myself away from listening to the great tunes.
The Ben Racine Band is a 5 piece Canadian group, consisting of Ben Racine Guitar/Vocals), Little Frankie Thiffault (Tenor Sax), Mat “Moose” Mousseau (Baritone Sax), Kevin Mark (Electric/String Bass), and Nicky Estor (Drums). Together this band bring an immense amount, and I do immense amount, of musical experience to the table, something that is super evident as you listen to “One Of A Kind”.
“One Of A Kind” consists of 12 Tracks of which Ben Racine is credited with the writing of 8 Tracks. Of the 4 covers they chose some real nice ones which included, “Early Times” (Dennis Binder) , “Shake A Hand” (Joe Morris), “Walking The Dog” (Rufus Thomas), and “Bad Boy” (Larry Williams). “One Of A Kind” was recorded by Nicky Estor at Iguana Studio, Montreal, Canada and mixed by multi award winning Alec Fraser at Liquid Toronto. Special Guest on “One of A Kind”, featured Vinz Pollet-Villard (Piano/B3 Organ).
There was certainly a lot to like on “One Of A Kind”, but what really stood out was the super Vocals of Ben Racine, of which have been called “reminiscent of the greatest Rhythm and Blues vocalists of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Inspired by artists such as Junior Walker, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder and Clarence Carter”, a statement I totally agree with, as they are certainly some of the strongest Vocals I have heard in quite a while. Another thing, of many, I really liked on “One of A Kind”, was the small horn section which really added a great dynamic to their sound.
“One Of A Kind” starts off with the title Track, and has no problem setting the house on fire and just when you think it my have cooled down enough to go inside, the Ben Racine Band, throws a wallop of gas back on the fire with their closing Track, “Marauder”, starting the party all over again.
With all the great styles on “One Of A Kind” I found lots of favorites, with 3 being, “Bad Boy”, a great song done in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis, featuring great work by Vinz Pollet-Villard, “Walking The Dog”, a nice Funky Edged number which featured some killer Sax work, and the closer, “Marauder”, a full on Rock-A-Billy style number that really tears it up something fierce, firmly planting the thought in ones head, that hitting the replay button would be a really good idea.
“One Of A Kind” is one of those albums that was just super solid and super fun to listen to, from beginning to end. The Ben Racine Band show us all that they really have something special going on and will certainly be a band I will be keeping my ears pealed for with hopefully many more new releases. They are one heck of a powerhouse of a band.
“One Of A Kind” is an album I really enjoyed and highly recommend…
Review by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)