The BelAirs

The BelAirs :

Hoodoo Party

BBH038 - Blueberry Hill Records – 1999

After Dangerous Curves, this is the discographic return of the BelAirs with the real treat that Hoodoo Party is.
Take a quarter of Swampini, a quarter of Mr Tchang, a quarter of Doo The Doo and a good quarter of Benoît Blue Boy(1). Mix well. Once you get a homogeneous pastry, spread it to obtain a very nice biscuit. Cut 3 figures in it : a drummer, a bassist and a guitarist. Put them in your CD player and bake it for 39:20.
If you have followed this recipe to the letter, you should obtain an excellent album by the BelAirs.
If Dick & David Pruitt still ensure the bass and guitar and vocals, Mike Cherry replaced Pat O'Connor on the drums. What could be said about this, except that even if we thought greatly of O'Connor, Cherry's even better ? This guy can do anything, from New Orleans Second Line Beat to the most subtle shuffle via well understood Rock & Roll. He can play binary, he can play triple time, he would play quaternary if the band chose to add prehistoric songs to its repertoire !
As in their previous album, horns and piano –Johnny Johnson nevertheless ! – only appeared shortly here and there, here they're almost everywhere. Yes, Johnny Johnson's there again ! There is even some organ ! But hey, it's a party, as it is said in the title, so that's what it takes, you gotta do what you gotta do ! And as in any self-respected party, the priority is givcen to covers, with only 3 Pruitt brothers originals. And this party's onthe move, for it takes you around the US Southern states, from Mississippi to Louisiana, to Texas and more, from smoky bars backrooms to local fairs to gigantic stages in huge festivals, one can imagine our fellows at ease anywhere, for the richess of their repertoire surely can seduce any kind of audience. And always this pleasure to sing and play, always more joy to share, and their influences, from old bluesmen to the Shadows – listen to the guitar in Every Day I Have To Cry Some – to swamp blues, R&B pioneers and the hits on 45 rpm from last century, "those were the days" will probably say some including yours truly.
And you've seen this if you took the time to read the report about their gig at the Fifty, the BelAirs have no problem reproducing their unfortunatly too rare albums positive energy on stage. So before they're back in our area to bring a smile of pure bliss to our sad faces of stressed big city residents, we can only wait unpatiently for a new CD by these non selfaware masters. Till then, you can still order condensed of pure party joy at www.belairs.com.

René Malines

(1) all very good french blues bands