<< back

The Sensational King Bizkit Blues Band Live at Stage Liveclub, Kiel, Germany, 24th. April 1993.

These live King Bizkit cassettes make for fascinating listening; this is the third one I’ve reviewed in Blueprint and although this forthcoming release does duplicate some of the titles included on it’s predecessors, ‘Live at Gossip’s’ (1991) and ‘Live at Kings’ (1992) (I have’nt heard the original 1990 King Bizkit’ tape), the Band has seen so many fine musicians pass through it’s ranks, that each one features a considerably amended but always interesting aggregation of players.

As a result, even on those numbers which are common to all these recordings ---- Otis Rush’s ‘Double Trouble’, T-Bone Walker’s ‘Jealous Woman’, the Band’s own ‘Poll Tax Blues’ – the arrangements have been re-worked and the ‘voices’ of the participants speak in very different accents.

Thus, a song like ‘A Good Fool Is Hard To Find’, which traditionally opens the Bizkit’s set, has gone from being a heavily jazzchorded guitar piece on ‘Gossip’s’, to a honkin’ sax-and-rock-guitar outing on ‘Kings’, to the swinging Hammond organ dominated reading which was captured at this German concert this April.

The keyboards (there’s also some fine piano work on the opener and ‘Reconsider Baby’) are provided by 23-years old Mike Torr, one of two bright new stars of the Band --- the other being tenor and baritone sax man, Paul ‘Buddy’ Tasker, who is himself only 26. Neither of them have exactly envious tasks: Torr was brought in when that excellent young guitar man, Adam Clarkson moved on, ….. Tasker is the replacement for that firebrand, Leo Green, who can now be seen wailing and screaming as part of Jerry Lee Lewis’ band.

I don’t know quite where or how bandleader Richard Everitt keeps finding these prodigous youngsters, but like John Mayall before him, he appears to be a blues talent scout par excellence.

Two players who have stayed with him, jazzy saxist Ben Weston (19) and the rapidly maturing Mark Stuart (19) (both of them less showy than their former partners), have gone from strength to strength within the ranks, whilst bassist Jon Bower really is extremely good indeed!

This tape really needs no further recommendation than to tell you that, on the strength of this recording, the Band secured themselves a 10 weeks’ tour of the U.S.A. and two nights at the prestigous Antone’s club in Austin, Texas, which incidentally they will have played on the very day I wrote this (20.6.93).

How many of our domestic Blues Bands can make that claim???

Paul Lewis Blueprint July 1993

<< back