Untitled Document

I was handed this CD by Vamp's drummer, Dave Jones on Christmas Eve whilst at a club in Barnsley. Dave has been a member of The Karl Heard Band, who had a great reputation. I knew Dave had teamed up with the Mexborough "reluctant superstar" Steve Firth so I realised I was on to a good thing as soon as I received the very well presented CD. By "well presented" I mean the CD is of professional quality with a lithographed cover, none of the tatty ink jet do-it-yourself stuff for these guys. The cover folds out to show pictures taken in the studio, on the inside.

This CD has eight tracks, and seven of them are covers of classic rock songs with the one blues track thrown in. The remaining one track is Screwed, a self written number and this superb song sits very well with all the other classic tracks.

From the Faces, is the opening track Stay With Me. This is a pretty good and accurate rendition of the song and to me, the vocals are much improved from the original....I know it's Rod Stewart on the original but I'll state quite categorically, Steve Firth can whup Rod's arse when it comes to vocal chords. The guitars are pretty tasty too.

So I'm being contentious but who cares, credit where it's due! Continuing the classic theme from the same era comes that old Free favourite, Wishing Well. This has been covered by other artist such as Gary Moore for example and Vamp play this classic very well indeed. The guitar solo is not a clone of the original but fits the song well. It's also refreshing to hear poetic licence within a cover version.

Not many will be aware of the Swedish band Diamond Dogs but they have a song by the name of Every Little Crack and Vamp have breathed a little magic on it and recorded it with some Southern Boogie feel, a style Steve Firth seems to favour. I know this by experience having seen him play live many times. This is almost Georgia Satellites/Black Crowes style. A really good track.

Muddy Waters is a hero of mine so the classic blues, Hoochie Coochie Man was bound to please! The band play this very well indeed and with almost a Walter Trout feel to it. Steve's vocals are especially enhanced with a menacing attitude and it is a superb rendition.

Many might think The Hunter is a Free composition but they would be wrong. Steve Cropper (Booker T and The Blues Brothers Band) wrote this one and it's a cracking song, especially how Vamp have served it up. The lead guitar break on this song is a lot in the Paul Kossoff style, nothing wrong there then....and it is played over a superb rhythm section of Dave Jones on percussion and Mark Hutchinson on bass. Not sure who the lead guitarist is on this track . It's either Steve Firth or Ian Wilkie, two excellent guitar players. Nice inclusion to the album.

In 1969 I was blown away by the Stones masterpiece, You Can't Always Get What You Want. What an incredible song it is. I always thought it would be beyond anyone covering it as the original was the Stones to start with, but they also had a choir adding to the symphonic proportions of this classic. Well I'm knocked out again because Vamp have done a great version on this CD. The guitar breaks are beautiful and strangely, they remind me of Bill Nelson the Be Bop Deluxe guitar hero in their style. The outro takes the tempo up, with the band actually sounding like Lynyrd Skynyrd till it slows down to the very satisfying end point. Wonderful!

How could you contemplate following that with a song of your own? Well Vamp have done just that! The self written Screwed comes in with a superb guitar riff and just starts moving and moving. It really drives. This song has a Southern United States feel to it, with Steve Firth, Mexboroughs best kept secret, playing slide guitar throughout. It's a great song with lyrics and vocals by Mr Firth and very ably played by the members of Vamp. The song sits so well with the other classic songs, I just hope Steve keeps writing songs of this quality, it's excellent.

The previous song is in a Rolling Stones sandwich as the finale of the CD comes in the guise of Sympathy for The Devil. The track starts with Dave Jones drums opening for a nice guitar lick before the familiar three chord progression establishes. Steve's gruff and very pleasant earthy vocals continue an album long run by introducing the immortal lyrics, "Please allow me to introduce myself....." and cold shivers down the back make themselves known! Fabulous! This brilliant band continue with the rhythmic progression and include the obligatory Oo Oo's. The jangling guitars sound great too and I have a feeling these amps are valve powered, the crunch on the chords is wonderful. The guitar solo just rocks and the whole song is a complete success, Vamp have interpreted it so well.

So what have we here? It's a great offering ,mostly covers, but so what when they are played so well. Before Rock of the North was born, in my days as a blues journo for an internationally published magazine, I raved about the quality of talent in the Dearne Valley. Now we have lasting proof, recorded proof of that talent. The original song "Screwed" is a beacon of light, shining brightly, but sending a message: We're here....we're talented....and we want to entertain you. Clearly, Vamp can do this with ease. What is truly remarkable is that the band recorded the whole of the CD in just one day in September!