I think you know why we are gathered here: A new Fabulous Thunderbirds record just dropped. As usual, it is fabulous. Yet more so than with its blood-red cover, Struck Down distinguishes itself by the vantage point offered for spectacular stargazing: Top-shelf guests join the band’s 50th anniversary celebration.
So, here’s to 1974 Austin, Texas, and to its beer joints and rib shacks which served as early proving grounds for a titanic crossover band that emerged in the 1980s. But this, the T-Birds’ first studio album in eight years, very much resides in the present, right down to a set of sparkling new songs from a sparkling new writing team. Suprises lay in store.
Not surprisingly, though, Kim Wilson remains the more-than-tuff-enough frontman. He also remains the lone original member, still harping up a storm and slinging around that dense, coal-black voice of his. These days, he works in cahoots with guitarist Johnny Moeller, keyboardist/guitarist Bob Welsh, bassist Steve Kirsty and drummer Rudy Albin.
But Struck Down marks the introduction—a test-drive, if you will—of Steve Strongman’s talents with six strings and a songwriting pen. The result is nothing less than serendipity. Moonlighting away from a successful career of his own, the behatted fretsman helps dig into the bulk of the album. Plus, nine-tenths of the tracks stem from the unveiled and outstanding Wilson-Strongman partnership.
Understandably, the guitars draw attention wherever they roar. Only a tad over two minutes, the mini-rocker “That’s Cold” turns heads. “Struck Down By the Blues” is no different. But listen for the fine details, such as those split-second but oh-so-cool darts of organ periodically stabbed into the corners. “The Hard Way” falls under the harmonica’s jurisdiction, however. “Sideline,” more of a slow dance than the prior slow blues, sways with soul, saxophone and softly coo-coo-cooing backup.
As for that spectacular stargazing? “Payback Time,” the first single, stuns. Hard-nosed retribution gets issued with a sinister glint by Wilson and his warbling harp, doubly endorsed by the desert-dry throaty scratch and bristling solo of the Bearded One, Billy Gibbons. “Whatcha Do to Me” hosts an Elvin Bishop guitar cameo. The zydeco accordion zooming through an already extroverted “Don’t Make No Sense” belongs to Terrance Simien. “Nothing in Rambling” is the stickiest star magnet of all, though. Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal all take turns sharing its lyrics with Wilson; their acoustic guitars, along with Mick Fleetwood’s pattering drums, pile on just the same, building Memphis Minnie’s 1940 rebuttal to nomadship into a joint venture. Aces, back-to-back.
Label: Stony Plain
Release Date: 6/28/24
Artist Website: fabulousthunderbirds.com
Reviewed by Dennis Rozanski
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