Emanuel Casablanca – Hollywood Forever
Brooklyn’s Emanuel Casablanca has been described as an artist redefining blues-rock. But we’ll maintain the blues are the blues & what’s reshaped is the artist & his presentation. If you “redefine” the blues, what happens is what happened to country music. It morphed into Nashville pop music with a cowboy hat. The country timbre became kindling. The “blues” isn’t supposed to be upbeat & happy. It’s the blues. You’re unhappy in love, lonely about someone, or pissed-off about losing something.
So, this 16-track Hollywood Forever (Drops May 9/Independent) has an album title that doesn’t sound entirely bluesy & the cover art doesn’t suggest the blues. For the uninitiated, there’s nothing that says: blues. Emanuel’s earlier LPs do & he looks like a blues artist. He needs something crazy & eye-popping next time — like Thelonius Monk’s cover for “Underground.” Emanuel (guitar/vocals) opens quite well with the intense “Mud,” rooted in the style of the late Louisiana blues guitarist John Campbell. His LPs were dark, with a compelling Tom Waits growl & topics (“Tiny Coffin”). John had a distinctive rhythm & slide-heavy style with guitars: a 1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic, a 1934 National Steel & a 1940s National Resophonic guitar. It added character. Much the same as Emanuel does to songs like “Werewolf” & “Roulette.”
There’s lots of volume & cement here, but fortunately, there’s no loss of soul. It’s all persuasive. “Dirty Luck” — a good track has the narrative buried in the mix. The fingerpicked guitar conclusion is wonderful. “Hollywood Forever” has a good melody & is well-recorded with its locomotive intro. But it starts to detour from what the blues are. You have to ask, would Robert Johnson or Muddy Waters play like this? Maybe Shuggie Otis or Johnny Winter, but Hollywood has nothing to do with the blues. The instrumentalities on this are conceptualized well. This is where Emanuel shines. He needs to better focus on his song topics. The music, guitar & voice are excellent, but sometimes production-wise — they’re not captured as well as they could be. “Roulette” borrows from older blues, but Casablanca is true to form & soaks up a Taj Mahal/Keb’ Mo tradition. “Me & the Devil” is good, but over-produced.
“Good Day To Die Young” has a vocal too close to Bon Jovi to be the blues. It’s one-dimensional. Not blues if it’s performed this way. Slowed down – this would be a winner. A producer should have realized this. However, “Low Down Dirty Shame” is far closer in authenticity.
Highlights – “Mud,” “Dirty Luck,” “Hollywood Forever,” “Werewolf,” “Roulette,” “Me & the Devil,” “Low Down Dirty Shame,” & “Last Fair Deal.”
Musicians – None listed
First color image courtesy of EC Facebook & guitar image by Natalija Buba. CD @ website unavailable at this time. https://www.facebook.com/thebadboyofblues