Two years after the blistering garage soul fury of Dig Thy Savage Soul, Barrence Whitfield and his gang are back with an even meatier pot of loud, proud R&B stew.
Willow kicks us off with typical primordial abandon, Peter Greenberg’s let-rip six-string battling Whitfield’s bruised vocal all the way to the finish line.* The Claw* swings with a filthy, sax-humpin’ Link Wray/Sonics vibe, while the whammy bar-drenched *Adjunct Street *sees the big frontman swivelling into Solomon Burke territory.
As with every Savages long-player, we get a bevvy of covers to boot. Eddie Snow’s I’m A Good Man could’ve been etched by The Jim Jones Revue, while the riff-heavy stomp through Timmy Willis’ northern soul gem* I’m A Full Grown Man *exudes a late-60s rock kick. With 30 years of sucker-punch garage rock’n’roll behind him, Barrence Whitfield is still the man to beat.
