Life, Love and Leaving

by

The Detroit Cobras

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The Detroit Cobras are back, their second album is finally out, it's been 3 years in the waiting and it is absolutely brilliant. This band seem to effortlessly take a style (styles ) of music from the past and find the soul and spirit of it and build something new and beautiful out of it, as opposed to copying, rehashing, imitating it etc, like 99% of the so called "Garage Rock " bands around today. This album is all covers, yet if you were not familiar with the originals ( note* they don't cover obvious songs) you would swear they were written by the band. The music can be loosely termed "Garage Rock", but it's tight and it's got real depth feeling to it, like old R'n'b a la Otis Redding etc (whose "Shout Bama LA" is covered here. Rachel Nagy (ex-BUTCHER/EXOTIC DANCER)has an amazing raw and husky voice, the guitar is tough and gutsy and the rhythm section is steaming. This great/completely overlooked band take old songs and pay them the utmost respect, and sometimes add a vitality to the original cut which is no mean feat. Garage Rock is hurting these days, with the exception of the Gossip and a few others the DETROIT COBRAS are a truly mesmerizing band. Buy this record now!

I've heard so much hype about the soulful sounds of this awesome group that I went and bought both of their albums. Imagine my surprise when I finally heard this. These guys are like a wedding band! Rachael has a decent voice, but Tina Turner she is NOT! It probably doesn't help that my record collection includes many of the songs they are covering here so I am abundantly aware of the fact that these versions don't stack up. If you want to hear REAL soul music check out the "Pow City", "The Get It" and "Downtown Soulsville" comps on Crypt. If hearing super soulful female singers is your bag check out "Men Are Like Street Cars" double CD on MCA - you'll get 46 tracks that make the Detroit Cobras sound like the white bar band they are.