This is the first in an ongoing feature that might have been called “Classic” Blues Albums Revisited, but for the fact that the word “classic” is as over used, abused and misused as any utterance this side of the “F” word, simply “Revisited” will do just fine for now.  

The first album we revisit this month is the 2011 record by German guitarist Andreas Arlt entitled, All-Time Favorites. Andreas is the older brother of singer and harmonica player Michael Arlt who represents the other founding father of the Hildesheim based band, B.B. and the Blues Shacks.

In celebration of the band’s 25^th anniversary in 2014, they visited the states, well one of them any way.  That state was California. Their mini, six stop tour of California was the band’s fourth trip to the Golden State in the past six years.

Their tour gave me another chance to hear this great band perform and renew my friendship with these extremely talented bluesmen. While in California, I caught up with the band’s guitarist Andreas and our informal chats centered, as one might expect, around blues, its rich history and some of the talented artists that make the music we both find so thoroughly enjoyable.

Our conversations put me in mind of an album that I have enjoyed since its release waaaaaaay back in 2011, All-Time Favorites. 

In the course of one of our visits, it occurred to me that the deep knowledge, passion and love for the blues exhibited by Andreas Arlt and his band mates is so utterly endearing to me. Anyone who hears them play either on a recording or from the bandstand can attest to the fact that they have done their homework and have the talent to execute their original music and adapt it to the established traditions of the idiom.      

This Crosscut Records release is the first and so far only “solo” album by one of the brothers Arlt. It was never designed to signal a trend of any kind on the part of Andreas and wasn’t in any way shape or form an indication of his lack of commitment to the Blues Shacks.  The release of 2012’s Come Along and 2014’s Businessmen certainly would dispel any notions along those lines. It is just simply something he wanted to do after 22 years with the Blues Shacks.

All-Time Favorites, as the name implies, is a visit to some of Andreas’ most beloved songs by some of his heroes. Here the guitarist is joined by vocalist Frank “Pepe” Peters, organist and piano player Andreas Sobczyk, bassist Danny Gugolz, Peter Muller on drums as well as a three piece horn section comprised of Tom Muller on tenor and baritone sax, trombone player Martin Grunzweig and Stefan Gossinger on trumpet. These very talented musicians are up to the task of taking this iconic American music out for a spin.

Like many of the great bluesmen, this extremely gifted guitarist knows that his instrument’s value lies only in its service to the song. It is not Andreas’ style to use his axe to bludgeon listeners in an attempt to garner undo attention to his own prodigious talent. He is more likely to use his instrument like a scalpel and cut neat lines around a vocalist and harmonica player. He also has an impeccable rhythmic sensibility that is often in short supply with guitar players on this side of the pond. Andreas Arlt is essentially the quintessential ensemble player. The Blues Shacks recordings are a testament to that ethos. Even on this “solo” outing, Andreas plays it tastefully close to the vest. For Arlt, it is about tone and timing. He has both of these in great abundance.

The album opens with Street Walkin’ Woman which comes from the big daddio of the electric blues guitar, T-Bone Walker. As Andreas states in the liner notes, Walker “…remains by far the most important musician and influence of my career.” Maybe it is that realization that makes Andreas the musician he has become.

From there Arlt covers a Guitar Slim tune It Hurts to Love Someone and demonstrates that he can take his guitar down in the alley just off of Rampart Street with the best of them. On High-Low, the first of two instrumentals, Andreas not only pays homage to the early incarnations of Roomful of Blues, but to his heroes, guitarists Billy Butler, Tiny Grimes and Bill Jennings.

Andreas Art and company explore some areas originally staked out by Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Wynonie Harris, Albert Collins and others. Many tracks cover lesser known gems by some very famous artists. One of the many highlights of this album is, You’ve Got Bad Intentions, where the band takes on this great Bobby Bland number and in doing so also pays tribute to guitarists Clarence Holliman and Roy Gaines.

For guitar techies, Arlt points out in his liner notes that the entire album was recorded using a 1966 Fender Princeton reverb amp. The guitarist takes the time and trouble to point out that, “No effect board or other absurd tricks were used. Just a guitar chord, directly into the amp.” 

Before this 15 track gem is completed the listener is treated to a wonderful journey through some of the history of blues music and is also given a glimpse at its future. That future being the very creative, nuanced and subtle players from, in this case Germany, who seem to have a reverence for this material to the point where they want to place their own mark on this music without destroying the essence of what made these songs so special in the first place.

Maybe this former soccer player used to be able to bend it like Beckam, but Andreas Arlt can definitely still bend it like the three Kings, the other Albert, Gaines, Holliman, Eddie Jones, the Bills, Jennings and Butler as well as Tiny Grimes and so many others. Like the new album by his band, B.B. and the Blues Shacks, which is called Businessmen, suggests, this blues brother is all business. All-Time Favorites is a kick in the pants and for my ears it scores a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL every time I give it a listen. 

- David Mac