Paul Filipowicz plays a tight and edgy guitar, and Mean Dog Blues has a nice slide intro.

sounds as though the recording session started with everybody downing a pint of comfort, torching a pack of strikes, bowing toward a hound dog taylor poster and twisting the volume knob to 11.

Filipowicz plays the blues with the same bitter intensity as Hound Dog Taylor, Frank Frost, Big Jack Johnson. He fears nothing! Filipowicz made me think of the early years of Albert Collins in Houston.

This is Paul's second CD for the Dallas, Texas Gila label and I'm happy to report it's more of the same low-down Texas-style roadhouse blues that graced his first album. The emphasis is on original, shit-kickin' music with loads of dirty, muscular guitar from Filipowicz. This time around, the band has been augmented by saxophone (Robert Corbit) and Hammond organ (Steve Skaggs) giving it a fuller sound and a little more versatility but as the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," so the winning formula stays the same, but I'll point out that Filipowicz has grown as an artist and this disc is head and shoulders above his first album. He's developed into a killer guitarist, the assertiveness he was lacking has emerged in big helpings. This is one hot, guitar-heavy disc and he's ready to become a major force on the international scene. His sandpaper vocals are just a little smoother and again we get a full menu of original tunes and the emphasis is on dance-floor friendly material which will no doubt be appreciated on the shag/swing scenes. Two highlight tunes (on a disc full of them) that should get pushed are "Blue Bird Lounge" and "Mr. Lucky." Paul Filipowicz has been playing his blues and paying his dues for three decades now and I think it's time, his time to go for it. Once the guitar freaks hear "The Wind That Howls" I know he'll impress the hell out of everyone who knows what great pickin' is. Let's hope that Gila Records has enough resources to get this disc into all the right hands and ears. This man has to be heard. 5 bottles for a really fine artist and a CD that oozes coolness and molten hot guitar. Great combination.