BB & The Bullets

High Tide

Dixie Frog Records

New Zealand guitarist Brian Baker, finally home from Australia,  wasted no time making his mark on the New Zealand music  scene joining forces with the rhythm section of bassist Stu Duncan  and drummer Brad McMillan. The band named BB & The Bullets  focuses on original tracks and selected covers from Albert King,  B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Stevie Ray Vaughan; they share  the vocals. These tracks comprise their debut album “High Tide”.  The album was produced, recorded and mixed at Nixon Street  Recordings in Whanganui, New Zealand by Brian Baker. All of the originals are written by Baker.

The album opens with “Something In The Water” the first of  the originals as Baker sings “something in the water that’s got  me seeing double…there’s something in the water, something  in the water and it’s got me seeing double”. On “Born Under  a Bad Sign” written by William Bell & Booker T. Jones and  recorded by Albert King in 1967, we hear the lyric “Born under  a bad sign, I’ve been down since I began to crawl, if it wasn’t  for bad luck, you know, I wouldn’t have no luck at all”.

The title track “High Tide” features Eddie Rayner on organ, as Baker chimes “the high tide will ruin my land…how long can  this go on…what kind of son would I be if I didn’t feel, but the  high tide will ruin my land”. On “I Can Tell” written by Samuel  Smith and recorded by Bo Diddley in 1962, the leader chants  “I can tell because it’s plain to see, I can tell the way you look  at me, the way you know, you hold my hand, yes, pretty baby I can understand…now, you’ve been running with the heart  breaker Charlie Brown, here’s a new bounce that you put me  down, I know you don’t love me no more”.

On “Seven Ways To Sin” Baker cries out “there’s more than  seven ways to sin, it’s that look in her eye, I think about the  girl but there’s more than seven ways to sin”. “Walking The  Dog” was written by, and the first hit for Rufus Thomas in  1963 “Asked the fellow for fifteen cents, see the fellow he jumped the fence, jumped so high he touched the sky, never got back til the fourth of July, walkin’ the dog, if you don’t  know how to do it, I’ll show you how to walk the dog”.

“Little Fishies” features Baker as he chirps “we sat and hardly spoke…little fishies can have their way, it don’t matter what  you say, all the little fishies gonna have their day”. “I Want  You (She’s So Heavy) was written by Lennon and McCartney and sung by the Beatles in 1969, “I want you, I want you so bad, I want you, I want you so bad, it’s driving me mad, it’s driving me mad, I want you, I want you so bad, it’s driving me  mad, it’s driving me mad”, with some great drumming from  McMillan.

On “Letting Go” Baker moans “letting go…I try to face the  truth, and a chance to get my mind off of you, as the distance  between us grows…letting go of you, is the hardest thing I’ve  ever had to do”. “The Thrill Is Gone” was written by Roy  Hawkins and Rick Darnell and first recorded in 1951, but  B.B. Kings 1969 version made the song a blues staple, “The thrill is gone, the thrill has gone away, the thrill is gone, the  thrill has gone away, you know you done me wrong, baby  and your gonna be sorry someday”.

“Brian’s Boogie (Hurry Home)” is a fabulous instrumental  featuring some great guitar. On the closer “Big Foot  Running” Baker croons “big sky tonight…satellite streaming carrying the soul’s of the lost…whenever you go, it’s always now…that big blue sky is there somehow”.

The combination of Brian Baker’s originals and the well  executed covers makes for an enjoyable combination. Their live performances have received standing ovations at such festivals as the Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival. Our Blues gets heard around the world.

Richard Ludmerer

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