Hundred Year Flood “Blue Angel” (Frogville Records, 2007)

Excellent slice of guitar based Americana.

The fourth release from this New Mexico based four-piece band, this album immediately grabs your attention from the opening bars. “I Love You Still” is an awesome slow burner of a song with tremendous vocals from Bill Palmer and vibrant guitar and keyboard backing with sonorous organ carrying the weight. Throughout the album Palmer’s guitar playing is excellent, shimmering, soloing and caressing the songs whether sung by him or co vocalist Felecia Ford. Her vocals are strong and gutsy and with the pair singing six songs apiece there is a nice symmetry to the album.

The sound is fairly traditional by Americana standards, think of melodic Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Zuma period, with a dash of the ballsier side of Fleetwood Mac (none more so than on the driving "Pour Over Me”). Lyrically, Palmer has a way with words, spare but evocative, “Nothing haunts me…No bad memories/I’m warm from the cold.” (Kingdom of Cold) and “I’m not sorry for anything I said/Don’t be scared Love/This emotion is almost dead.” (Unoriginal).

However the highlights here are the grooves the musicians find. With many of the songs clocking in at around five minutes there is space for them to show off their chops while never straying into jam band territory. As stated above, Palmer’s guitar is to the fore with several glorious solos (“Champion Dog “for example) and on the seven minute “Barren Fields” they stretch out evoking the Hollywood Indian memory of Mr. Young. Capping it all is “Kingdom of Cold”, with added pedal steel (courtesy of Chris McCandy) where they achieve that sound that Ryan Adams strove for on Cold Roses, a modern quicksilver fluid sound that would surely raise a smile from the beatific spirit of old Garcia himself.

Date review added:  Monday, June 25, 2007
Reviewer:  Paul Kerr
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Related web link:  band site