Search - The BellRays :: Hard, Sweet and Sticky

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Joseph S. Cohn | Larchmont, NY USA | 05/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After years of reading these reviews and many hundreds of CDs purchased this is my first review, because I'm shocked there's not a single review for this fine CD. Wake up people! Bluesy, punky, gutbucket r&b rock and roll. Color me impressed."

A "slicker" Bellrays than you may remember

B. Brower | Philadelphia | 06/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, for longtime Bellrays fans like myself, this album will probably seem like a "departure" from the ragged, raw Rock N' Soul of past Bellrays studio outings. Longtime guitarist Tony Fate had left the group prior to this album and his absence very noticeable.

Its not that new axeman Bob Venum dosen't contribute some standout songwriting and capable guitar playing to the affair, the record is loaded with some standout tracks. But....Its just not the same wild, unhinged fury that marked some of the band's earlier Tony Fate-era records like Grand Fury and Let It Blast; if that's the Bellrays sound you crave, you won't find it on 'Hard, Sweet and Sticky', there are a few rockers ('Coming Down', Pinball City') but nothing even close to the ferocity of the Tony Fate albums. Perhaps, with this record, the band are looking to streamline their sound in an attempt to capture some of the "new-soul" audience that has embraced acts like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Detroit Cobras. Gone too are the free-jazz noise freak-outs and lo-fi recording aesthetics that marked earlier Bellrays records (I don't really miss them). All in all, 'Hard Sweet & Sticky is a fine album by a smoother, more polished Bellrays. And yes. Lisa still sounds fantastic!

Grand Fury"