A choice, prime cut of rockin’ boogie!
author: Dave "DocBluez" Ruthenberg
Michael Katon’s latest release should provide solace to his loyal legion of followers who feared that he had lost his edge with his last release, The Rage Called Rock n Roll. It wasn’t that Rage was a bad album, but that it seemed out of character for the man dubbed the “Boogie Man From Hell” with tame material and mellow ballads. Truth was, Katon was not up to par physically during the recording of Rage and that influenced his songwriting and recording. With Bad Machine, it is pretty clear that Katon is back with a vengeance. Now, to be honest, Katon’s music has always had the subtlety of a ballpeen hammer, but, that also is part of the charm of Katon’s flat out, guitar driven boogie. Katon’s music works best in a sweat filled, beer soaked club with some barbecue on the side. Katon plays hard driving boogie for a hard partying crowd.
Katon truly delivers the goods on Bad Machine. In fact, Katon captures the spirit of his music quite succinctly in the track Rock ‘n’ Roll, Whiskey, Blood ‘n’ Guts, a foot stomping opus that has Katon pulling off some of the finest guitar riffs this side of Hendrix. Katon wrings every note he can squeeze out of his Stratocaster. The title track harkens back to the glory days of street rods, with lyrics that even thumb their nose at convention (“burning gasoline and rubber, streaming smoke in the air, the EPA don’t like it, my bad machine don’t care”) with a bit of humor thrown in. Katon still has his blues chops down cold as well. The Lost TV Clicker Blues is not only a hoot, it is rockin’ blues nirvana. Besides, what guy out there can’t relate to those terrifying moments when it appears that your TV clicker has gone AWOL? With lean production values that are focused on musicianship as opposed to studio-enhanced chicanery, Bad Machine brings forth memories of the early ZZ Top sound when their music was as honest as a Texas sundown. Katon’s guitar mastery is allowed to shine through time and again as he has produced a choice, prime cut of rockin’ boogie. Our advice is simple: Jump on that Boogie Train and get boogiefied dammit!
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Katon is back with a vengeance on BAD MACHINE
author: Phil Klink
MICHAEL KATON BAD MACHINE WILD ASS RECORDS 2002
3.5 EYES
A return to form for the man from Hell ( Hell, Michigan, that is) that should lay to rest any suspicians that Katon has mellowed out after his last, more diverse offering" THE RAGE CALLED ROCK AND ROLL". And although i personally liked "RAGE", this is more what fans expect from Michael.....simple,honest,barroom boogie and blues, played with conviction and and in yer face guitar histrionics....and BAD MACHINE delivers.and then some! Drop the needle on RED MOON RISIN' for 5 minutes of everything Katon does best, growling vocals, Strat abuse,and some lowdown bottleneck Gittar! Michaels sense of humour is still intact on the " LOST TV CLICKER BLUES" and gives us his thoughts on the backwards baseball hat generation with " THE PIERCED,TATTOOED AND TWENTY-SOMETHING BOOGIE". Hey, we all know that this sort of roadhouse demolition has remained basically unchanged since CACTUS and HUMBLE PIE and their brethren abused amplifiers and various substances back in the day, but, as the faithful know, it aint what ya play, it's how you play it, and Mike lives for this music, with the chops of a guitarist that has spent more time in smoky bars than at home, and a guitar tone that has Strat owners scratching their heads, this is the real deal. Mike goes to Europe to play the Sweden Rock Fest in a few weeks--and there's a reason they sandwiched him between Motorhead and Ted Nugent! Crack open a cold one and annoy the neighbors with BAD MACHINE, and enjoy the ride!
PHIL KLINK
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Rock the house down
author: Perry Stockbridge
After years of producing "DIY" projects, Katon finally strikes a balance between the lo-fi recordings of his past releases and the overly produced "Rage" CD that had most of his hard-core fans scratching their heads.
Michael has wisely kept overdubs to a minimum allowing the his guitar tones to come through and the other instruments to sound natural and unprocessed. The result is an "in the room" quality that lends itself to this type of guitar driven blues-rock.
And it's a good thing too because the guitar playing on this disc is superb. It's obvious Katon has cut his teeth on the masters of this genre, borrowing licks and tricks without sounding derivative or cliched.
With a little rhythmic assist from drummers Jon Eppinga and Donn Deniston, Michael Katon, already a favorite in Europe and the UK, has conjured up a disc that may finally enable him to reach an American audience.
Buy this CD, grab a cold beer and a hot date, crank up the stereo and prepare for a fast ride down your favorite two-lane blacktop.
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author: Joaquin