Paul Benjaman Band – My Bad Side Wants A Good Time
Interesting opener – a little dark, full-bodied, instantly flavorful, distinctive & engaging with no hint of being ordinary. It almost sounds like a review for a bottle of red wine. While I’m not a big fan of silly artwork on LPs the music does stand up on its own merits.
There’s a hint of that stomping chord attack made famous by Z.Z. Top, but Paul Benjaman (guitar/vocals) has a well-fueled rock voice & a fanciful seductive bend to his choice words. Oh, it isn’t a vulgar record, but it has plenty of curves in the melodies, some hip-bopping bass runs & some ass-wielding shakes & on “Hot Dice,” an evocative backup vocal that could’ve faded out as a tasty side dish.
Produced by Paul with Jason Weinheimer, the set has me deep into the 3rd cut & this is where I’ll be sliding across the dance floor with my inner thighs gaining friction & a porter following behind with a fire extinguisher. The title track (simple as it is) is a scorcher on the 12 throws of the dice on the guilty conscience that makes up My Bad Side Wants A Good Time (Drops June 7/Horton records/JTM/43:00).
The LP is filled with infectious grooves infused with mood-satiated bluesy Tulsa, Oklahoma flirtations. As vocalist Paul Benjaman scours through & rouses the innocent ears of bystanders his lead guitar hypnotizes like a voodoo grandma with little hairs on her chinny-chin-chin.
Tunes like “Outlaw Land” & “Church of Space & Time,” have a Leon Russell slurry tone but Leon never had a voice that could take the passing lane onto a rock n’ roll highway. Paul Benjaman has that. He also has the J.J. Cale guitar plod fired up to perfection (& it returns on “Blues Skyline”).
The set has an array of styles. Smartly adapted to this band’s motif as Paul negotiates both the confectionaries of the music & its straight razor cousins. What inhabits his voice is authenticity whereas others would do a lot of bombastic shouting, innuendo overload & self-righteous pomposity. None of that is here.
After Paul leaves behind his Leon-isms he slides creatively into the soupy swampy delta blues of J.J. Cale on songs as immersed as “Old Rock House.” That’s not an imitation of Cale as much as just using the same recipe. It’s even as tasty as a little of Tony Joe White, Don Nix & Chip Taylor. Buy 2. Give one away as a gift.
Highlights – “Hot Dice,” “My Bad Side Wants A Good Time,” “Outlaw Land,” “Church of Space & Time,” “Old Rock House,” “Detroit Train” & “Blues Skyline.”
Musicians – Jesse Aycock (guitar/lap & pedal steel/bgv), John Fulbright (piano/keys/harmonica), Paddy Ryan (drums/percussion), Aaron Boehler (bass), Sarah Frick, Majesty Pearson, Alexandria Nichole Moore (bgv) & Ann Bell (vocals on “Local Honey”).
B&W image courtesy of Phil Clarkin. CD @ https://www.paulbenjamanband.com/ & https://hortonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/my-bad-side-wants-a-good-time
Song premiere: https://americanahighways.org/2024/04/24/song-premiere-paul-benjaman-church-of-space-and-time/
