Herb Eimerman
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great melodic rockin' blues
Robert Stanley leads his accomplished rockin' blues band through hills and valleys of expansive sound on this powerfully electric album. Stanley's versatility on the guitar is notably impressive, but his ability to steer his band in directions without forcibly overshadowing them may be his greatest strength!! Leaving room for the bass, keys, and drums to shine on their own, he allows his band mates space to move and groove, and they take full advantage. This solid backup gives him more than enough fuel to deliver some striking solos that interface with the organ to create a sound that is multi-tiered and ambitious, without resorting to thinly veiled noodling. The lyrics wisely follow the music down the same path, staying true to the rock and roll and blues form, but getting effectively modern in their content and melody. This is blues with both feel and calculation, and it takes some wise and talented players to pull that off. Roadman's Hammer is a band that is up for the task, and they deliver the goods with rock and rhythm to spare....Robert Stanley rules!!!!
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Dave Payne
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Get Hammered!
Bob\'s stellar Chicago-blues based guitar work coupled with vocals that range from whiskey ravaged bluesman to almost child-like make the wide ranging melodies and lyrics come alive. This music reminds me that there was a time when bands strove to sound unique, rather than pre-packaged, formulated crap.
The songs are powerful and touching, raucous and tender, joyful and moody. Bob delivers at every level on every song from the power-blues-rock \"Baby\'s Like A Train\" and ending with - are those bagpipes on \"So Many Roads\"?
Anyway, this is one special CD and it deserves its own category - ROCKABLUESIC!
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Tom Rutledge
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It's For Real!
Writing a review of Roadman’s Hammer is a daunting task. They say a roadman’s hammer is a mythical tool that helps coal miners, and is the cure for all their ills… I can tell you right now it’s no myth, it’s for real. Imagine the toolbox it would take to hold one.
In Robert Stanley’s toolbox, there is indeed a place for everything and everything is in its place, and nothing that doesn’t belong. It’s filled with special tools he has coaxed, forged, bent, beat, filed, hammered and shaped to reach places no one else does.
He is enigmatic, his guitar playing is at any given time as tasteful and restrained as it is raw and searing. He is a monumental talent, as sophisticated and acrobatic as any British guitar-hero and yet as pure and fun as a Mel Bay student sweating out his first three chords. His slide playing is as streetwise as a rock-bottom bottleneck delta bluesman who ever left town two steps ahead of the sheriff. At other times sophisticated, and so sincere and heartfelt that it would make George Harrison’s guitar gently weep. There is a matter-of-factness about his playing as that of a humble man, and he only lets you see flashes and glimpses of his brilliance, and then only for the glory of the song, not the fluffing of the ego. Truly, Stanley plays as good as he wants to, and I have never seen anyone better at that, anywhere.
His influences are deeply woven into the fiber of this project. Beyond those that Robert himself cites, the listener is likely to hear fiery solos that lift a song like those of Jimmy Page, hypnotic single note guitar lines that draw you in, like David Gilmour, and the pure truth and honest melody of George Harrison.
His vocals might bring to mind a “20-something” Robert Plant, Dave Edmunds, Randy Newman, and Peter Gabriel. Speaking of Peter Gabriel, those listeners lucky enough to hear the CD on a system with a good subwoofer will really feel that similarity on some of the later tracks.
And if the tools of his musicianship aren’t enough, his songwriting; he uses lyrics and melodies like a master painter uses brush-and-palette, or a surgeon uses a scalpel.
The production is at any given time in-your-face; ethereal; lush; stark; understated; extreme; simple; and complex. His use of tone, effects (or “no effect”), and echo is not unlike Jeff Lynne.
The band plays and sings with single-minded tightness that some might say could be Stanley’s alter egos. The keyboards run the gamut from 60’s Mellotron sounds to 70’s Moog analog synthesizer modulation, from acoustic piano to church pump organ. The rhythm section, and the occasional horns, bring a Memphis groove and a Stax Records feel in sound and spirit at just the right moments.
Robert Stanley, aka The Roadman, Electric bluesman, pop tunesmith, esoteric composer. Rockabluesic indeed. Great album!
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Bill Haines
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Roadman\'s Hammer: CD of the Year!
Without a doubt, this is unquestionably the best music purchase I\'ve made all year. What a comeback! What a musician! What an album! I don\'t know where to begin. This CD grabbed me right from the start and never let go. It\'s not often that an album comes along that I like all the way through. Most times I\'ve got to give it a few spins and let it grow on me. This one sprouted thick, tangled roots and dug in deep immediately. Roadman\'s Hammer has been in my CD player since I received it 3 weeks ago. I haven\'t listened to any other music for three weeks, I kid you not. The man\'s voice belies his age. He sounds a full 30 years younger than he is. His instrumental prowess is right up there with the biggest names in the business (he plays nearly every instrument himself). The words he\'s written are sung with passion, power and finesse. His vocals are by turns as gritty and dark as coal smoke, powerful enough to drive a railroad spike and as beautiful and soothing as a far away train whistle. Robert\'s voice encompasses a full range of emotion and feeling that only comes from years of traveling life\'s tracks, taking note of the thing\'s he\'s seen and experienced along the way, writing about it and singing it like it just happened, still fresh and clear in his mind. A good album is like a good book: it should paint a vivid picture in the mind of the listener, and for me, it does exactly that. I can\'t wait for the next album. I\'ll be the first one at the ticket window for The Roadman\'s next ride.
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