Son of Dave- 03

CD Review

Artist: Son of Dave

Title: 03

Label: Sparks Music

Release Date: August 12^th, 2008

Reviewed By: Sarah Miller (Vancouver Correspondent – Canada)

Self-proclaimed “funky one-man modern blues explosion” Son of Dave has been touring the world as a solo act since the release of his second album, Son of Dave-02 back in 2006, but Canadian audiences may still remember him best from his days spent with the Crash Test Dummies as Benjamin Darvill. Son of Dave recently released his third album, Son of Dave-03 and will be touring across Canada this summer to promote it.

Son of Dave’s sound is firmly rooted in the ‘everything old is new again’ philosophy.  03 borrows heavily from 1930s style blues using hand claps, foot stomps, and driving harmonica on almost every track.  The opening song, Old Times Were Good Times borrows the main guitar riff from Cream’s Crossroads, but combines it with a synthesized bass and beat box to give it a distinctly modern sound.  The album also features a re-vamped version of Lowrider that includes beat-boxing, an accordion taking over the horn parts, a juice harp, and some nice Prince-esque vocalizing by Son of Dave.

Darvill is a master at mixing and recombining sounds in unconventional ways. On this album he branches out from his staple looping harmonica, beat-box and foot stomp by incorporating guitar, piano organ, plucked cello and backing vocals. He uses his voice as another instrument to add to the mix, rather than lending a particular lyrical quality to his songs.  The spoken-word style of Your Mercedes evokes images of 1950s style jazz poetry, while in the chorus of Hellhound his voice takes on a percussive quality, adding an extra punch and live sound type quality to the recording.  

Overall, 03 is a fun and funky album, a wonderful mash-up of blues and beat-boxes. Fans of Beck or even G.Love and Special Sauce should definitely check out Son of Dave.

Track List:

1)       Your Mercedes Intro

2)       Old Times Were Good Times

3)       Nike Town

4)       Lover Not a Fighter

5)       Low Rider

6)       Hellhound

7)       I’m Not Your Friend No More

8)       Your Mercedes

9)       I Just Wanna Get High With You

10)   Squat that Rabbit

11)   Roller Boogie