Cameo Blues - 10,000 Hours (2012)

Tracklist

01. Penguin Walk
02. 10,000 Hours
03. 21st Century Rocket 88
04. Gasoline
05. Plowin' Our Row
06. Hold Your Love
07. Talk Radio
08. Howlin'
09. Sittin' On Top of the World
10. Rock and Roll
11. All About My Girl

The “10,000 hour” rule states that, whatever the discipline, it takes that amount of time to truly master one’s instrument. We have no way of accounting for the number of hours the members of Cameo Blues have been practicing, but 10,000 Hours the recording, the latest from the woefully under-recorded veterans from Toronto, shows complete mastery at every turn.
Led by vocalist extraordinaire John Dickie, who also had a co-writing hand on all seven originals included here, the band tears its way through a set that leans to the rockier side of blues but never strays far from the basic building blocks that give their raucous, rollicking sound its irresistible oomph.
As a songwriter, Dickie has been called a mix of Tom Waits and Randy Newman. He has a sharp eye for detail and a wicked way with words, and his tunes tend to be whip-smart and often hilarious, though there’s usually a serious message to be found; the title track, powered by booming drums and raw, distorted vocals, examines the burning quest for instant fame, while Plowing Our Row examines society’s hypocritical quest for energy at the expense of the environment. The former gives co-writing credits to Sloski, the latter to guitarist John Bride, while pianist Ray Harrison is co-writer of “21st Century Rocket 88,” a tune every bit as boisterously exuberant as its title suggests.
Covers, all grouped at the end of the disc, include a grinding “Howlin” (Actually “Howlin’ For My Darlin,” by Chicago stalwart Willie Dixon), the oft-recorded “Sittin’ On Top Of The World,” with Dickie contributing some wheezy harmonica, and a furiously rocking version of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock “N” Roll.” The closer is an acid-tinged romp through Jimmy McGriff’s “All About My Girl” that gives solo space to Harrison, Dickie (on harp) and Bride, each strutting his stuff with masterful aplomb.
The incendiary guitar work from Bride and the swaggering strut of Dickie’s leather-lunged vocals may stand out, but this is a band project through and through; performances are indeed masterful, but participants are all savvy enough to understand that an instrument is just that – a means to create music, not an end in itself. This is great stuff indeed!

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