Graceful Degradation

In the mood for something a bit mellow this evening after a fairly draining day, I had a search through the pile of CDs still awaiting my attention (sorry Nicky!) and decided to give Blueville a spin.

Formed in 2006, this is the debut album from the Italian blues band.  At its heart are the vocals of Mario Percudani and his guitar alongside that of Marco Tansini who plays lead.  Paolo "Apollo" Negri on keyboards, Gianni Grecchi on bass, and the drums of Angelo Roveda round out the band, but they also bring in plenty of additional musicians to vary the sound. 

So there are female vocalists like Sherrita Duran duetting with Percudani on Misery and again on Every Year Of Your Life with the addition of the New Sisters Choir to add a gospel vibe.  Rosemary Lane makes great use of Elisa Paganelli's voice and Gianni Satta on flugelhorn to add a haunting air. 

Most of the tracks are so laid back as to be almost horizontal and they're a bit too perfect.  There is the odd appearance of a dirtier guitar sound, like on Love Letters In My Guitar Case, but they're few and far between.  And although I was looking for mellow this evening, in truth at 15 tracks the album is a bit overlong.  There's no denying the abilities of the musicians, they're top notch.  The album's just a bit safe overall, highly polished and perfectly constructed.

So, it's good, but not great.  And right now I've decided I've had quite enough of mellow so will go in search of something a bit rougher with a sleazy side.

Check this out: Blueville - Butterfly BluesTweet this!