| The Hurt Process may have been surprised to find out they were the first British band to play the Van’s Warped Tour, but they shouldn’t have. With their chunky hooks and raw loud-quiet-loud, sing-scream-sing formula, their full-length debut Drive By Monologue (Victory) is just the thing to get the young punks movin’.
Now a reason to sing the blues. Eric Clapton has just released an album of songs penned by delta blues legend Robert Johnson. On Me And Mr. Johnson (Reprise), Slowhand takes all the passionate lo-fi charm of Johnson’s original recordings and smooths them out. His laughable take on "They’re Red Hot" is so lacking in conviction it makes you wonder how Clapton got this far in the first place. Sure he’s a competent guitarist and a blues legend in his own right, but this album, unlike the blues, is boring and emotionless.
If you think that idea sounds bad, what about Honkin’ On Bobo (Columbia). Aside from being in the running for worst album title of the year, this latest effort from Aerosmith features the aging rock vets electrifying some classic blues standards. Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson and many others all get butchered, not so much by the band, but by Steven Tyler’s overwrought delivery. The fact that it comes with a commemorative harmonica doesn’t help either.
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