Concert Review: Oscar LaDell at The Vic, Devonport 9 July 2021

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Oscar LaDell is a Young American who emigrated to Dunedin in his teens. He served up a set of Roots Music inspired by Black musician heroes from the Delta to the classic Soul era.

He does play behind a band and he can get loud. Tonight, he is solo with an electric guitar. The voice is out front and takes us on journey over time. Guitar playing with lots of space to breathe. Less is more and the sound is full.

Change the World, the opening track to his album Love and Revolution is a perfect example of his approach to Soul. The song starts in conversation and easily slips into Gil Scott-Heron spoken polemic. Then he sings people/ keep on wishing to pivot into Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground. Finishes in the smooth falsetto of Curtis Mayfield.

Oscar LaDellThe classic Soul era of late Sixties to Seventies was when black music became overtly politically conscious whilst still taking care of matters of the heart. When the Temptations would swing from the sweaty swagger of Ain’t Too Proud to Beg to the dramatic Papa Was a Rolling Stone back to the Doo-Wop of Just My Imagination.

The only singer that comes to mind to do this, and especially master the falsetto is Mick Jagger. He nails that comparison with the opening track as he starts well, I’m goin’ away from here. Old school Delta Blues with some laggard swamp-guitar licks.

There you go. From Mississippi to Northern Soul.

Prior to the show, he told me he was not so keen on the Stax sound. He was more of a Chess Studios man.

Salt and Sand. He was taking Lightnin’ Hopkins as inspiration. This is a slow Blues shuffle with the early Delta Blues sound of Muddy Water’s doing his classic Rollin’ Stone. Great voice, more incantatory than preaching.

There’s a straight-out Curtis homage where he sings a love like this must persist in my heart. Soft sustained falsetto with the faint sound of Reggae. There is a significant amount of Mayfield carried deep in the soul of Bob Marley too, when he broke out in the early Seventies.

There is more Gil-Scott Heron in Every Day. Evil men in power/ World is falling around me. A Protest Blues. Short guitar riffs like bullets.

Oscar LaDellLeo LaDell. The father joins in. He could rightly claim to be the Originator of all this music.

He is a virtuoso harp player and easy comparisons can be made to Little Walter, and even going back to Deford Bailey, the first Black artist to appear at the Grand Ole Op’ry in the late Twenties.

He sings the Muddy Water’s classic Honey Bee. Country Blues in spirit. Superb harp with the barest of guitar accents, more minimal than Hubert Sumlin.

Jimmy Reed’s Big Boss Man gets the treatment. A Blues stomp and the harp goes to town.

Gary Harvey

Starting the show were some local old-timers. That was Gary Harvey, rhythm guitar, showcasing his new album Outlaw. With him was longtime collaborator Tony Abbott lead guitar.

Gary HarveyHarvey looks like Willie Nelson with much longer hair and he plays Americana. The Southern variety with an accent on Rock.

The title track opens and its four horsemen bearing down on me/ Looking down from the mountain.

Impassioned lyrics, a little of the apocalyptic. He is an admirer of James McMurtry but there are more elements in his singing.

Secrets and Lies is more Folk and overtly political. Kiss a baby or three/ Throw some money at it. Anger and passion make him sound curiously like the early Patti Smith.

Coroglen and he sings about millionaires, criminals and pig-hunting. Spirited singing and a nice Soul Blues lead guitar with a Delta heart.

Sea of Pain was inspired by the Doors movie. The title sounds like Black Metal. The guitar plays R’n’B morphing into Psychedelic Blues. The voice haunted and raw. Mojo Rising and Lizard King invoked.

Oasis in the Badlands could be a blend of Springsteen passion and Dylan sneer. Lucy, Sunset Sam and the Monkey Man as characters.

Perfect accompaniment from Abbott who plays all manner of Blues and R’n’B styles and at times reminds me of Robert Cray from ages ago.

They combine brilliantly on Bad Water, a highlight. A story built around the Navajo and their homeland. Passionate singing leading into Indian chants and incantations. Matched to a superb guitar work out and you could almost see Plant and Page materialising.

The vast expanse of America and its finest art and culture. Oscar LaDell is the young troubadour keeping it vibrant. Leo LaDell and Gary Taylor demonstrate its timeless qualities.

Rev Orange Peel    

     

Rev Orange Peel
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