Bernard Allison, Energized: Live in Europe

Bernard Allison, son of bluesman Luther Allison, plays in a more contemporary style than his dad on his new record, Energized: Live in Europe. Most of the songs here are in a funk or rock style as opposed to a traditional blues groove. He also chooses to avoid any of the standard blues repertoire, all of which is to his credit. The problem is that he doesn’t offer us much of an alternative — most of the songs here are weak, and their performances don’t make them stand out, either. His band is tight and energetic on the faster songs and they’re obviously having fun, but they’re mostly uninteresting. Allison’s voice is also an acquired taste — it sounds like he’s constantly about to choke on something, and it’s not particularly expressive.

On the good side, his guitar playing is decent. He takes some great solos, particularly on “Bad Love” and “A Woman Called Trouble,” and he takes a really ripping one on “Snake Bit Again.” His guitar riffs complement the vocals on “A Change Must Come” in a nice way. “The Walk” is a Bo Diddley-style stomp, which he uses basically as an excuse for soloing, and thankfully, it’s some nice soloing. And on “The Way Love Was Meant To Be,” the distorted guitar lines that he adds after each verse are cool and effective.

Allison’s keyboard player, Mike Vlahakis, on the other hand, is less than effective. And since he’s on every song as well, that’s not a good thing. Ultimately, he just distracts us from Allison’s playing. On “The Way Love Was Meant To Be,” he goes through all of the different sounds on his keyboard and still finds nothing that works with the song. His solo on “A Change Must Come” is lame, and his part on “Too Cool” is just boring. And his keyboard sound helps make the slower songs (“Into My Life” and “The Way Love Was Meant To Be,” in particular) way too smooth.

There are a few decent songs here — “A Woman Called Trouble” and “Snake Bit Again” are both nice, and “A Change Must Come” works, too, despite that piano. But even that stuff is only good, rather than great. Bernard Allison may feel “Energized” about the record, but he’s the only one.