McLemore Avenue (named after the street where Stax studios once stood) have taken a chance – they’ve avoided the Jimmy Smith/Brian Auger back catalogue and done their own tunes.

Some pedigree too – Hammond player Patrick Barker-Benfield was taught to play by Ian McLagan, not a bad tutor!

So what about the tunes? Pretty good stuff.

Kicking off with ‘Ham Slice’, a typical sixties-inspired piece of jazzy Hammond, followed by ‘FUBAR’, one of those ‘soundtracks to a film that never was’ pieces JTQ use to trademark.

Things get rockier with ‘About Face’ (think Small Faces instrumental) then slower with ‘’The Indefatigable Jimmy Smits’ (probably a play on words as it’s very Jimmy Smith!).

‘Texas Toast’ is a nice enough guitar-led workout, without really going anywhere, ‘Me Gusta’ is a nice bit of Hammond-funk. ‘Sad, But True’ is a nice atmospheric slowie, ‘A Toy Robot’ takes us back to sixties themes again!

‘Tree-Hug-Her’ brings guitarist Landis Armstrong to the fore for a late 60s style jam – and for me the best track on the album.

‘(The Last Of The) V-8 Interceptors’ is a nice atmospheric piece, which again drifts into soundtrack territory, ‘926 East’ closes the album, a track that builds nicely with a nice Hammond/guitar wall of sound.

Overally, fairly impressive, especially for the Hammond afficionado.

However, I do wonder where you go to follow this? The first album is fine, but for all modern-day Hammond combos, it’s going to be tough doing something different for the next time unless (possibly) you get a vocalist in. Over to you McLemore Avenue!

If you want to find out more about McLemore Avenue or wish to buy a copy of ‘926 East’, visit www.mclemoreavenue.com.

Reviewed by David Walker (review posted on 7th August 2004)

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