COOKING VINYL - (COOK CD 353)
RELEASED  >6th FEBRUARY 2006

REVIEWS PAGE

THIS PAGE CONTAINS THE COMPLETE REVIEWS
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“This track….just excellent…this is called Lucky Charms”
Mark Lamarr – BBC Radio 2 – July 2006

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MOJO >MARCH 06
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THE SUN >FRIDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 06
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THE WORKS >JANUARY 06
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Michael Messer - Lucky Charms By Benedict Murray
Do you like surprises? Many people pretend they do, but don’t. They like
the comfort of familiarity and nothing, you know, ‘weird’ or ‘different’.
They fear change. You’re not like that, are you? Are you?? The fact you’re
even reading this suggests that you have, at the very least, a slight interest in
the non-mainstream. If this is you then go get a copy of Michael Messer’s
album, a man who has a reputation as "Britain’s leading national steel and
slide guitarist". He is also, in all likelihood, probably one of the only ones in
our sceptred isle. You know the slide guitar – used famously in ‘Stuck In
The Middle With You’ and Gomez were rather fond of it. This album is like
a slightly rawer Gomez. A little folk, a little country but with a strong sense
of confidence, a real swagger. It’s not something you usually hear.
Far from it. It’s very, very good.

NEW-NOISE >DECEMBER 05
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Michael Messer - Lucky Charms by Owen Bailey
One of Britain's greatest slide guitar players returns, blending rock,
world music rhythms, samples from old blues records (he was doing
it before Moby) and a full band with his cultured tasteful style. On
the album's standout track, Sunflower River, Messer's love of the blues
shines in an abstract tone poem to W.C.Handy. The final track,
anagrammatic slide instrumental, Crackly Hums, emphasises
precisely why Messer's guitar prowess has won him awards.

GUITARIST >JANUARY 06
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CLASSIC ROCK >JANUARY 06
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ACOUSTIC >FEBRUARY 06
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BLUES IN BRITAIN >FEBRUARY 06
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BLUES MATTERS! >FEB/MAR 06
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Michael Messer - Lucky Charms (4 star review)

Though he has spent much of his career as a jobbing slide guitarist, Michael Messer’s
recent solo album have seen him attempting to do something different with the blues and
on Lucky Charms he really has cracked it.

Shunning and embracing modern techniques at the same time the album was recorded live
onto tape with absolutely no computer trickery, though samples, cut ups and scratching are
provided throughout the album by turntablist Louis Genis. In addition to this Messer adds to
the classic blues sound elements of rock and his own Britishness to make an album that shares
elements with Alabama 3, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, the Rolling Stones and Captain
Beefheart but is very much separate from all of these bands. Andy

INDIGO FLOW >FEB 06
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MAVERICK MAGAZINE >APRIL 06
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www.bobtjeblues.com

Two years ago we were overtaken by the collective John & The Sisters, a combination of blues
shouter John Dickie and the Sisters Euclid Band of Kevin Breit (well known from Norah Jones &
Cassandra Wilson fame), the only real sister being the lively Suzy Vinnick, producing an eponymous
album in the promising Canadian Northern Blues label. They served a raw kind of pre-war blues
drenched in an exciting rock dressing, brought to taste with a good deal of humour. It sounded
new and interesting, but betrayed an immense love and respect for tradition. We have the impression
that this CD isn't totally unknown to the Briton Michael Messer: on Lucky Charms he serves up an
equally satisfying, though slightly more relaxed melting pot of Moby and Beck with, like he himself
cites in his songs, W.C. Handy and Tony Joe's wah wah''. There's even a song called Steve Cropper
and another rough tune bears the title Son House! The Rolling Stones, Steve Marriott and the Small
Faces get a funky 'thank you' elsewhere. Messer constantly throws in a fair amount of background
sounds (mainly voices) that, together with the slide jobs, evoke a tangible thirties atmosphere.
Listen to The Knife Song: no wonder this man has already been mentioned in the same breath as
Ry Cooder and Duane Allman. And Johnny Cash once wrote liner notes for Rhythm Oil, a record
Messer made with Terry Clarke and Jesse Taylor! Michael is a pro for 23 years now and recorded
his first record with the Michael Messer Band as early as 1985 (Diving Duck). It's interesting to note
who he's been playing with, people the likes of S.E. Rogie and Ted Hawkins. An ample career survey
can be found on King Guitar (2001) A decade ago already he experimented with a live blues DJ''.
His singing is on a same level.. We discovered no lesser tracks on Lucky Charms. Havana Blues could
have been from Moby at his best. But we prefer the opening title track and the repetitive Take Me Back.
Lucky Charms is, just as John & The Sisters, an indispensable CD for those wondering what future
blues might sound like.
Reviewed by: Antoine Légat
Info: Lucky Charms / Cooking Vinyl / COOKCD353

BOBTJEBLUES.COM >MARCH 06
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MUSIC MART >APRIL 06

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METRO >MARCH 06

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CUSTOMER REVIEW

 National Steel Treasure (FOUR STAR REVIEW)

Now then, an original blues album.
I saw these guys at the Broadstairs music festival in the summer. I'd been kind of
wondering what we were doing there, or at least the kids had. These guys sure
addressed any lingering doubts. For me it put the whole festival in perspective,
after all you cant expect to like everything. Michael Messer and his ensemble
were very much the cherry on the cake, a truly awesome live band. A fair amount
of the material they played is on this album, brilliantly played recorded and engineered.
Its the genuine article. From the opening whistle the chuffing slide guitar delivers stand up
feel good blues with the ghosts of the blue's forefathers ever present lurking in the
background courtesy of some very clever sampling, a little English quirkiness with
a tinge of Mississippi essence. What a wonderful flavour! Then there is the sound
of the National steel, Wow vintage new blues.
Don't miss this train, it could be the journey of your dreams.
Reviewed by: Simon A Rowan

AMAZON.CO.UK >10th FEBRUARY 2006

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THE EVESDROP LISTENING PARTY

Michael Messer – Lucky Charms
Michael Messer has a reputation as a virtuoso acoustic slide guitarist, so this album
is rather unexpected – as he mixes, rock, soul, blues, turntables and old vinyl,
loops and world rhythms to interesting effect – producing an accessible
and contemporary record. It’s certainly worth a listen or two. – AT

WWW.CHEESEONTOAST.CO.NZ >28th MARCH 06

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British acoustic slide guitarist and singer/songwriter in analogue heaven.

It's more than two decades since Britain's leading acoustic slide guitarist Michael Messer
first started gigging. Having hung out in the American South in the '70s and picked up as
much as he could of the Mississippi delta blues, he began to formulate his own twisted
take on this and other traditions. He's since been compared to the likes of Ry Cooder
and Duane Allman, and is one of the few artists to have had sleevenotes
penned by the late Johnny Cash.

For his seventh album since debuting in 1988, Messer resumes his long-term partnership
with guitarist Ed Genis and his son Louie, who peppers the sound with atmospheric
scratches and vintage vinyl excerpts. Knife Song comes across like a demented
out-take from Exile On Main Street and things get seriously swampy on Take Me Back,
while Steve Cropper, an homage to the great soul guitarist, actually comes across
sounding not unlike Dire Straits. Messer dazzles on the slide throughout. - HMV Choice

HMV >MARCH 2006

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PLAY MAGAZINE >RUSSIA APRIL 2007
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FAIR HEARING

Twenty seconds in and we have a curious soft hip-hop rhythm prods the Fred McDowell style slide guitar
and relentless second guitar loop – traditional elements taken somewhere different and strangely reminiscent
of Paul Jones’ favoured Taj Mahal cut, Squat That Rabbit, or whatever it was called. Music with a lopsided grin
and a tapping foot, pretty addictive too. This sets the scene for the album’s mood – it’s almost like a set of faded
sepia photographs in a neon-edged frame. I like the underplayed vocal lines and fresh but homespun lyrics.
Messer is working here with Terry Clarke and I believe their association goes back some time.
Buzzy guitar slide figures vie with distorted vocal phrases and I suppose the nearest reference point ought to be
Little Axe, whose overall output hits more sinister territory than you’ll find here. There is little overdubbing so a warm
live feel pervades all, well done Kent studio BigSqueak. I have no doubt that Michael’s Second Mind Band will do this
stuff justice in a live setting and I hope they take the turntables out with them to retain that uplifting vibe.
Pete Sargeant - FAIR HEARING.CO.UK http://www.fairhearing.co.uk

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