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Graham Greene - Club Voodoo
We don’t often hear of Australian bands or artistes apart from maybe Kylie (who doesn’t really count, sorry), Australian Pink Floyd, Men Without Hats, Bengal Tigers, Voyager, and of course Rolf Harris who has covered some well known rock epics in his own inimitable way, so it is good to find that Graham Greene hails from that very land. Obviously, you don’t become a guitar virtuoso overnight so it is no surprise to learn that Graham has been gigging professionally for twenty years now with various bands which is how he met Donna (then Donna Andrews) the lead singer and founder member of the band that was to become Judgement Day. Late in 1994, Graham was asked to headline the W.A. Music Awards, performing some of the rock instrumentals he had been working on. The show was at the prestigious His Majesty’s Theatre and the ten-piece band he put together for the concert became the first incarnation of Graham Greene and The Happy Sinners (named after a track that appears now on Club Voodoo). Grahams full bio is available on his website (see foot of page). Graham plays all the instruments on Club Voodoo with Donna contributing her vocal skills on four tracks, the remaining track being instrumentals. However, for live performances The Happy Sinner’s, whose line-up is always changing, are brought into service. All things being equal, Graham Greene should be headlining large stadiums across the world, but we all know that record companies and promoters with clout are not in the least bit interested in good music. Consequently, like so many bands these days, he had to self finance Club Voodoo and in the absence of a distributor (at the moment), you will only be able to purchase the CD via his website (using PayPal) or, if you happen to live in Perth, W.A. some select record shops. Get it while you can! To get a taster, check out some MP3 samples via Graham's website or at MP3.com. There again, why waste time downloading when you can buy the CD? Jem Jedrzejewski (unfortunately not the chap in the picture!) Graham Greene Official Website
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©The Hairless Heart Herald 2001-2009. Reproduction in any means or form of material published on this site is strictly forbidden without the express permission of the editor. |
Ten
years ago, I was on my way to see Emerson, Lake & Palmer at Manchester Apollo.
A friend who was travelling separately handed me an unmarked cassette with the
instruction to listen to it on the journey. Off I set on the short journey
across the Pennines intrigued by what the tape contained and, wow, was I blown
away. Powerful guitar dominated, clearly music to be played at volume 11 on a 1
to 10 scale. Whilst it was powerful, melody was far from forgotten and 30 miles
later I was sold on it. What the hell is this, I asked, the answer being Joe
Satriani’s The Extremist.
So what has this to
do with Graham Greene? Having just gone to bed in the now early hours of the
morning I decide to listen to just one track (on headphones) off Club Voodoo,
Graham’s latest album and then get some sleep. 17 tracks and almost 74 minutes
later I was buzzing! Visions of a stadium packed with rock fans are easy to
conjure up. But what type of music is this? Heavy rock? Metal? Blues/jazz
rock? I would settle for the all-encompassing term of melodic rock as the music
covers all the aforementioned with a hint of prog and is very melodic. Like
Satriani’s The Extremist, Greene’s Club Voodoo whilst being guitar
led is quite diverse; for example, Vinnie’s Pink Guitar opens with
intricate acoustic guitar along the lines of Steve Hackett’s Bay of Kings
album. The Garden Of Good And Evil (he must have seen my garden) starts
with a ‘present day’ proggy style slipping into a Satriani sounding fast but
smooth guitar semi-prog composition. Wonderful! The title track, Club
Voodoo, has elements of Ian Anderson Tull-ish acoustic with Hackett-like
sustained electric guitar in the background. RFC97 could be a combination of
Gary Moore guitar harmonies and Anderson (à la Secret Life Of Birds),
slow, gentle but very powerful. Eternity is the first track to feature
Donna Green’s strong, unstrained clear vocals that combine to remind me of
Renaissance Mother Russia in a way. Strange Illusion is a mix of
Carlos Santana and Satriani styles with a haunting melody. Donna’s great voice
can be heard again on Walk On Water. With a voice like that I’m certain
she could cover The Great Gig In the Sky whilst drinking a glass of
water! Sliders has a proggy start in a Galahad vein with ghostly voodoo
wailing vocals courtesy of Donna leading to some great tempo changes. Hopefully
you can tell from this how varied the compositions are.
Now, going back to
where I started waffling on about Joe Satriani, I found some tracks on The
Extremist to be less appealing than others and the album, for me, got
progressively weaker towards the end. I’m happy to say that this is not
the case with Club Voodoo; whilst I find it hard to pick out a favourite
track, it is impossible to find a track I don’t like. On an album that is 74
minutes in length, that is quite something.