BOMB SQUAD (featuring Tanya Thillet)
At The Brewhouse - South Norwalk, CT
(6/28/02)
At 11:45pm, the Bomb Squad stormed the stage to defuse any volatile situation of unfunkiness (sorry, I had to throw that one at ya!)! My general criticism concerning the band is that their original songs are always like the CD version (as far as song lengths and arrangements).....after a short while, the songs sound somewhat stale.....still good songs but no real umph to 'em!
The
Bomb Squad tackled a new song called "Have a Good Time" which was
funky, but "Fire" (originally by the Ohio Players) was a little
better....the song was mostly instrumental and I wished that the vocals were a
little more on-key. On the plus side, the guitar breakdown was tight &
funky, and the horns were on the one!! "Hey Good Lookin'" featured
some hot lead guitarisms! "What You See is What You Got" featured
some good keyboards and tasty bass....the minus side was that Tanya Thillet's
vocals were too low (yes, Tanya Thillet of the Nappyhead Funk Army......she
substituted for Jen Durkin, since Jen is on the road with Bernie Worrell &
the WOO Warriors)! Also, because Tanya received the lyric sheet a couple of
days before the show, she forgot half of the lyrics. The JB's "Sex
Machine" was funky, like "Gemini" and Aretha Franklin's
"Rock Steady".....the latter which featured some great EVI riffs (the
guitarist actually started into "What it is....what it is!" chant
during the 1st verse of the song). Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" suffered
from some more low vocals by Tanya and some changed (?!) lyrics in the second
verse. On the plus side, the bassist provided some hardcore thumpalicious bass riffs!!
The JB's "Pass the Peas" featured somefunkafied horns! "True
Thang" was followed by "What is Hip?" was funky like Tower of
Power's version......with some tight drumming!!!At 12:45am, the Bomb Squad
declared the area safe from an unfunky threat! (they left the stage) PLEASE
NOTE: THIS WAS THEIR FIRST OF TWO SETS!
Click here for pictures of the Bomb Squad
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