Dirty Dave Osti: Shakedown On Salvation Street

Authentic. It's a word you hear and read on a regular basis, yet often when you listen to what it pertains to, well that's a different matter. So it is advisedly, yet with confidence that I give you a Shakedown On Salvation Street from Dirty Dave Osti; an Authentic (with a capital A) Heavy Blues Rock album from the 70s (well 2013, but if this was blasted out in 1976 it wouldn't be one jot out of place – other than the in your face production of course). Dirty Dave knows how to groove and he knows how to Rock. However vitally, he knows how to Rooooowwwwl, for this is Rock that Rolls with a confident, dirty, swagger and doesn't need the feel to apologise for its bullishness.

The one thing that did and still does surprise me here is that Dirty Dave a one man writing and performing band, nailing the drums, riffs, bass lines and vocals, as well as composing the twelve originals that sit deservedly against two excellent cover versions (a suitably grinding "Certified Blues" (ZZ Top) and a cleverly Americanised "Fairies Wear Boots" (Black Sabbath)). The surprise coming from the fact that not only is DDO talented enough to infuse the drumming with power and life, the guitars with grit and purpose, the bass with oomph and bounce and the vocals with gruff accuracy and whiskey soaked character, but that it all sounds so much like a band. And a band that jams and grooves for hours in the studio at that. Very clever indeed.

Fourteen tracks in total is maybe just a mite long (for almost any album), yet to be fair to the Dirty one, I can't decide which I'd have dropped, so why should he? "In The Summertime" boldly builds on power crashes and pinging cymbals, the vocals biting your heels the whole way, "Ocean Girl" is all staccato guitars and a bass line to die, the chorus pulsating on a groove so thick you could get lost in it for a week! "Cold World" adds a slightly more commercial sheen, the bass again setting the scene, the guitars slamming everything into gear, while "Shakedown" gets down and (Dave) dirty, Osti's vocals just about scraping the skin from your face as they slice and dice all in their path.

Put simply, Dirty Dave Osti is Blues Rock from yesterday that's perfect for today. If you're looking for an album brimming with rifftastic intent and grooves galore, get yourselves down to the Shakedown On Salvation Street.

Track Listing
1. Reach For The Sky
2. We Got The Right To Roll
3. Ocean Girl
4. Cold World
5. Pull The Trigger (On Your Love)
6. Stun Gun
7. Blame It On The Times
8. Certified Blues
9. Lean Into The Wind
10. Pale Rider
11. Shakedown
12. Old Man Blue
13. In The Summertime
14. Fairies Wear Boots

Added: April 8th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Dirty Dave Osti at Grooveyard Records
Hits: 3943
Language: english

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