You've Put Your Voodoo On Me is the debut album from
Bo Molasses, a refreshing blues band from Marbella, the
millionaire's playground, in the South of Spain, and
England. The band comprises Paul Cufflin on electric and acoustic guitars /
keyboards / bass / percussion / background vocals, Chris Daffin with
electric guitar,
Sugarcane Grey playing acoustic slide guitar, Chris Jackson on
drums/percussion and Bo on main vocals. It’s a very interesting mix! Six of
the songs off the album
have already been licensed by Hollywood music publishers Crucial Music for
use in various US film and TV project, which gives you an idea of just how
good this
music is.
The CD opens with “Just Enough,” a slow ballad aimed at a girl who fooled
her lover, left and predictably came back. The backing is nicely simplistic,
with some handclapping built in. Track two is “I Do Believe My Time Is
Coming,” and what a good track this is. The music is moody, atmospheric and
foot-tapping good. It’s very much Mississippi country blues flavour, even
though it comes out of Spain! This track put me a little in mind of early
Derek Trucks. My only criticism of The Whole album is, that if the band were
mine, then I would have made this track the opening one to really get
people’s attention.
Track three, “I Want You,” takes the tempo up slightly, and it’s slightly
less bluesy than the preceding two tracks, but still very good. This one
runs into the title track “You’ve Put Your Voodoo On Me,” and this one is
another good, slow, moody, blues. Just when you think that you’ve really got
a hold on how good this band is, up pops “You’re Gonna Need Someone.” This
brings the tempo back up just a small notch and it has a slow, driving back
beat with some lovely guitar work laid over it, supporting haunting vocals.
“Sara” brings the slide guitar much more to the front, and it has a real
catchy riff going behind the vocal. It leads into “Stay With Me,” a track
with some great harmonica playing.
“I Know I’ve Had It Coming For So Long” keeps the music moving along, this
one sounds as though it could easily be used as a movie soundtrack about the
Deep South. “Faith Healer” and “Won’t You Come See About Me?” wrap the album
up in similar style. You've Put Your Voodoo On Me is an excellent debut CD
from an accomplished band and hopefully they’ll follow it with another CD
soon – maybe with some up-tempo numbers. ~Review by Terry Clear
