The album opens with “Change My
Ways,” a steady and strong bluesy number, with a bit of a swamp feel to the
guitar. This is an original track, written by Marie Martens. Usually in a blues
song, if there is some cheating going on, it’s by the other person, but here
Marie sings “I went out last night
drinking/Think I lied and cheated too.” Then the song suddenly takes off
for a short blast of energy before returning to that main groove, like a brief
but failed attempt to effect some change, which is really interesting. This
track is a damn fine start to the disc. The band follows that with a fun and
enjoyable cover of Otis Rush’s “Keep On Loving Me, Baby,” here titled “Keep On
Loving Me.” Marie Martens delivers a delicious blues vocal performance, and plays
keyboard on this track. And the music has a lot of rock and roll in its soul. I
particularly love the guitar on this one; I can lose myself in that lead like
halfway through the track, while the rhythm keeps my body moving. The chimes at
the end feel a bit out of place, but no matter.
“Mama Won’t Allow Me” begins
with electric guitar which seems to promise something special. You just know from
that little tease that this thing is going to cook. And sure enough, the song soon kicks in like
some of the best early work from ZZ Top, with that kind of raw, dirty energy. This
is an original number, written by Marie Martens. That’s followed by a cover of “Bad
Boy,” with Ronnie Cacioppo taking lead vocal duties. This track features
another delicious groove on bass, and more wonderful work on guitar, but for
me, the drums are the focus here, and are what keep me going. The band jams on
this one. We then get “Movin’ On,” an original blues song. “They say it’s forever/Not for you and me/Our
love ain’t what it used to be/I gotta move on, move on/It’s time for me to move
on down the road.” I love the heavy
feel of this one. It’s one of the disc’s highlights for me. Then “Kokomo Blues”
starts off almost softly, a nice little tease, and suddenly kicks in, that
great rhythm taking over. This feels like the band you always want to be
playing when you walk into a bar.
The disc’s final original
number, “Later Baby,” is a groovy number, another highlight. “But maybe his leaving was a blessing in
disguise/Truth of the matter is he was telling a lot of lies/My baby left me,
and now he’s gone/He said, ‘Later baby, bye-bye, so long.’” Marie Martens
plays keys on this one. The fun continues with the band’s cover of “Mama He
Treats Your Daughter Mean,” which moves along at a great pace and should put a
smile on your face. It features more delicious guitar work, particularly that
lead section. And check out that bass line. Marie Martens & The Messarounds
then take us further into the blues with their rendition of “Walkin’ And Cryin’,”
which has a smooth, wonderful, classic sound. Ah yes, blues about heartbreak,
and Marie Martens delivers it so well, though we do lose the rhyme because of
the lyric change in the lines “There’s
one thing that I just can’t stand/That is seeing you out with somebody else.”
Brian Mitchel plays piano on this track. That’s followed by a cover of “Room
Full Of Mirrors,” this rendition having something of a Bo Diddley rhythm. The
album concludes with a mean, cool rendition of The Rolling Stones’ “Ventilator
Blues,” a song that originally appeared on Exile
On Main St. This version features a good fuzzy guitar sound and powerful
vocals.
CD Track List
- Change My Ways
- Keep On Loving Me
- Mama Won’t Allow Me
- Bad Boy
- Movin’ On
- Kokomo Blues
- Parchman Farm
- Later Baby
- Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean
- Walkin’ And Cryin’
- Room Full Of Mirrors
- Give Me Back My Wig
- Ventilator Blues
Travelled was released on April 29, 2019.
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