Talkin' With the Hands

A Solid Contribution :)

     

Straight from the land from down under, Karl Morgan explodes onto the blues/rock scene with his debut album “Talkin’ With the Hands”. The album itself is a solid work: every song as gritty and raw as the last. His sound resembles the sharp, edgy contemporary blues-rock embodied by artists like Kenny Wayne Shepherd as well as the largely acoustically driven blues that Eric Clapton has come to perform in recent years. Songs like “Natural Condition” and “The Lowdown” have flavors of both Delta and Chicago blues styles (as he utilizes the steel slide on acoustic guitar as well as the electric wails made famous by guys like Muddy Waters). The song “Sunny” and others like it on the album are a nice change of pace, as Morgan seems to keep it simpler, comparative to the style and sound of Tracy Chapman. Although every song is a solid piece, nothing really stands out as what some may look for as the CDs “single”. There are good songs (and some may even say real good songs), but the trouble is, it’s hard to find a really great song that’s able to stand on its own – every song seems to bleed into the next. Aside from this, “Talkin’ With the Hands” is a fine addition to the shelves of blues, rock and the gradient that blends the two. For a debut album, Morgan definitely shows considerable promise as a contemporary blues musician.