Michael Terry
"Too Bad"
Victoria Records
By Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro © July 2011

It's only been eighteen months since "Bighead Baby", Michael Terry's debut disc, and here he is again with his latest release titled "Too Bad". The disc not only contains fifteen all new original songs, but on it Michael's joined by ten all new musicians as well. The group consists of: Michael Terry on guitars & vocals; Brett Voelker on drums; Marc Torlina on bass; Jim Owens on piano, organ & trombone; Greg Trampe on organ, piano, percussion & guitar; Jason Swagler on alto sax; Larry Johnson on tenor sax; and Aaron Lehde on baritone sax. Several additional guests are Rich McDonough, on guitar, with Kelly Wild and Pat Liston on vocals.

The only thing greater than having the opening song's opening notes knock your socks off is the rest of the disc living up to that fabulous first impression. Along with all of the other tracks, "Why You Wanna Scream On Me?" does just that. This one took all of 1.5 seconds to get from my ears to my limbs and that was all she wrote. Funny, that was also all I wrote. The song ended and I was still on the last sentence. Several replays now allow me to tell you that Jason and Michael utterly kick ass on sax and guitar, and the rhythm will have you writhing recklessly.

What can be better than over six minutes of pure, straight up, in your face, gut wrenching and guitar scorching blues? The answer to that would normally be nothing. However in this case, the answer is over six minutes of pure, straight up, in your face, gut wrenching and guitar scorching blues featuring two guitars. With Michael and Rich taking turns tearing 'em up, "Blame It On My Day Job" will double your guitar listening pleasure. Combine that with emotionally charged vocals from Michael and I've just listened to the disc's best track.

On "Leavin' Missouri", the rhythm players are in total control yet the rhythm is totally uncontrollable. There are drums being relentlessly beat, baritones inducing vibrations, horns blaring blatantly and organs wildly orchestrating. Brett, Aaron, Jason, Larry and Jim all nail it on this one.

There's certainly no "Procrastination" on the part of this band when it comes to showing their diversity. After nailing it on their low down blues and rockin' rhythm stuff, I'm now hearing they've got the soft, sexy, jazzy thing down pat as well. Jason, Jim and Greg are mostly responsible for that with wonderfully done sax, piano, organ and percussion work.

"For My Love Of You" is an absolutely beautifully written and beautifully performed love song. I truly hope that Michael has someone beautiful in his life that he's singing it to. With it's sincere and spiritual lyrics, Kelly's angelic backup vocalizing and the steady organ and finessed caressing of the piano keys by Jim, this one has hymnal qualities.

"Found Work In Texas", is unlike anything else on the disc. It features Mike and Marc working acoustic magic on guitar and bass with beautiful vocal harmonizing and shoo-wopping.

"Too Bad" is another one that's too good to not mention. It's a rhythm fueled shuffle with more tandem guitar work between Michael and Rich and a wonderful sing a long type vocal tempo.

Other tracks on "Too Bad" include: "Mama Done Raised A Fool", "Here To Stay", "Hard To Find My Way", "She My Baby", "Ganktified", "Takin' Names", "One Thing That's Changed", and "Trampe Stampe"

You can visit Michael Terry at his website by going to www.michaelterrygroup.com. While you're there, in addition to telling him the Blewzzman sent ya tell him "Blus am real and bad".....trust me, he'll know exactly what you mean.