DUSTIN DOUGLAS AND THE ELECTRIC GENTLEMEN
BREAK IT DOWN
QUAD-O RECORDS 1000-1
A LITTLE BIT–DESTINY–ON THE DANCE FLOOR–TURN AROUND–GOODBYE–HOLD OF ME–MY TIME IS PRECIOUS–AIN’T NO DENYIN’–OUT OF MY MIND–FAT CAT–YOUR FACE IS STUNNING–TRAGEDY–NO MORE TEARS TO CRY
Dustin Douglas And The Electric Gentlemen hail from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and this power trio, consisting of Dustin on guitar and vocals, Tommy Smallcomb on drums, and Matt Gabriel on bass, take classic blues-rock to an exciting new level. With these thirteen originals, laid down at the Eight Days A Week Studios in Northumberland, PA, fans, the groove is indeed the thing! Yep, these cuts are full of just plain “riff-o-riffic” guitar lines and solid propulsion from the rhythm section. Heck–this thing doesn’t slow down until roughly the halfway point, and then only for just a bit.
Leading off, the funk’s the thang on the struttin’ tale that has Dustin asking for “A Little Bit” of “bass, drums, and whiskey,” to “show you just what I can do!” “On The Dance Floor” opens with solo acoustic guitar before blasting off into the stratosphere, as Dustin vows to take his lover to heretofore-unreached peaks, from “the early morning until the dark of night!” “My Time Is Precious” is another stone slab of funk, while the chunka-chunka rhythm of “Fat Cat” finds our hero on the prowl, for there’s “so many pussycats, so little time.”
Our favorite was a take on traditional love stories that go horribly wrong, recounting Adam and Eve, Romeo and Juliet, and Jack and Rose of the Titanic epic. Set over a staccato rhythm pattern, it is entitled, simply, and aptly, “Tragedy.”
Dustin Douglas And The Electric Gentlemen hit you right in the gut with a heavy dose of grit and swagger from the opening note. It’s no wonder that their live shows are the stuff of legends, and you can dig it for yourselves by checking out “Break It Down!” Until next time…Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues Society.
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