BC & The Big Rig – Liars & Saints
This Oklahoma-based 5-piece ignites an 11-cut set with cleverly crafted tunes & typical bar band lyrics. It’s well-recorded with blistering guitars & authoritative vocals (Brandon Clark-vocals/guitar).
Recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville the group maintains a high decibel mode in an early Allman Brothers/Foghat/Georgia Satellites memory. Nothing bad. They were quite hot for some years in Southern Rock. Clark has the pipes & wisely stays away from being too bombastic. Instead, Clark keeps a tight rein on his R&R roots.
The openers “Liar,” & “The Shakes,” have the steam to keep an audience humidly enthralled. The musicians are all proficient & it sparkles as it heaves from the speakers. I’m not a big fan of this kind of music but know when it’s done authentically & when it’s not. This band is polished.
Liars & Saints (Drops Oct 15–Horton Records) is a guitar-heavy rock-hybrid. There are no Eric Clapton-Dickey Betts guitar solos, but the string busters keep the big logs burning in this musical bonfire with finesse. 6-string torrents come from Ryan “Danger” McCall & Sam Naifeh. Bassist Chris Bell lays down heavy mudslides along with a flood of heavy-handed beats from drummer James Purdy. It works.
“Little Devils,” is hot. Then Clark unleashes a pleasant ballad “Kid At Heart.” This tells a striking story & is well-arranged & paced. Nice reflective narratives, fat grooves & Oklahoma bravura add a nice pathology to their showcase.
Clark continues with the richly textured “Long Way To Fall,” & the band’s versatility is obvious. Despite their signature charge ahead at full-clip guitars, this adds to their technique with lyrics about when “I’ll keep dancing with my demons…” It’s affirming. Lyrically excellent. This is truly beautiful. If I were a singer who didn’t write his own songs I’d cover this.
Sliding back into the fast lane with a ZZ Top assault & interplay, the energy of “Won’t Sleep Tonight,” chugs along in a definitive groove. Unflinching. This is a beauty too. It just sweeps you up in its R&R grace.
Are all songs good? No. “Rainbow Rocker” steps out of the circle. It plays well musically, sung enthusiastically, but it’s an elementary lyric when compared to gems like “Long Way To Fall.”
Fortunately, “Scraps,” reinstates the LP to its lofty peak with its Creedence Clearwater Revival-style drenched in ZZ Top guitars. Clark’s vocal is formidable, an intelligent rocker in full Roger Daltrey gear.
Their PR stated: we’re all liars & saints at points in our lives; heathens & healers; fools & fishermen; fathers & mothers; sisters & brothers – and I may add — winners & losers.
This CD – I’d put it in a winners column. Photos courtesy of the BC website.
The 39-minute CD: produced by BC & the Big Rig. Available @ https://hortonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/liars-saints & https://bcandthebigrig.com/