Lightnin’ Malcolm – Renegade

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The new album from Missouri native Lightnin’ Malcolm is a duo recording featuring Junior Kimbrough‘s grandson Cameron Kimbrough on drums, and was recorded in Clarksdale, MS and is Malcolm’s attempt to live up to the record’s title, creating something and unconfined by barriers. He nearly achieves it too, and at his best he merges R&B-ish grooves with the sound of blues great Muddy Waters, the grittiness of R.L. Burnside, a little jazz and a little Jimi Hendrix (Last Nite I Held An Angel) to create something upbeat and unique, but in some instances he tries so hard to achieve some kind of quirky, memorable melody that some songs, like So Many Women, turn into cartoonish ditties which undermine the authenticity of some of the other, more creative tracks. Another disappointment is the title track, which is a largely directionless instrumental with a bass line which somehow has one note which seems to resonate stronger than the rest and stand out far more than any other note, creating an intermittent fuzzy pulse which proves incredibly distracting, and damaging to the track overall. The same thing happens to a lesser extent in second instrumental Foxfire Ranch, and reggae number Precious Jewel will probably throw a lot of a blues fans as well. Groovers like My Lyin’ Ass, Ain’t Even Worried, Come Go With Me and Stop Fightin’ Over Me are where Malcolm really excels and carves out a sound of his own and a few more of those would have made the album overall stronger and allowed a little more leeway for more diverse explorations like Precious Jewel. As it is the best stuff gains no momentum as no two great tracks ever come side-by-side on the disc.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Blues, Quick.Play Reviews, Lightnin' Malcolm