“Fugue For Lady Cheriff” taken from the CD ‘Is Here’ (Afterglow AFT 011) 199?
The American Blues | Fugue For Lady Cheriff | (Karma) 1968 | The coming creation of ZZ Top is not hard to extrapolate from this album, which has the American Blues quartet (later a trio) playing a Texan form of late ’60s underground rock that manages to be genuinely psychedelic despite its bluesy orientation.
After the band did with “If I Were A Carpenter” almost exactly what the Moving Sidewalks had done with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, their hooking up with Billy Gibbons was only a matter of time.
Fun as that spaced out Tim Hardin cover is, the high point of Is ‘Here Is’ probably “All I Saw Was You”, a top-flight piece of classic psychedelia. “Fugue For Lady Cheriff” brings in some raga-rock moves, and again is very good.
The American Blues | Fugue For Lady Cheriff | (Karma) 1968
The rest of the album leans more towards ’60s blues-rock and roots sounds; not bad but clearly less exciting. A version of “Mercury Blues” offers a parallel to the Steve Miller Blues Band, one of the few non-TX ’60s bands working successfully in the same direction as the American Blues and Moving Sidewalks.
Nothing against ZZ Top, but it seems a bit unfortunate that the members didn’t pursue the stoned, credible creativity of these early works.
I would consider ‘Do Their Thing’ an improvement over the debut. Material like the lead-off “You Were So Close To Me”, “Captain Fire” and “Just Plain Jane” has the band attempting to capitalize on San Francisco-styled psychedelics.
Other tracks find the group mining a more conventional rock format; “Wonder Man” and “Shady” reflect a distinct Cream-influence, while the blazing “Comin’ Back Home” (complete with Frank Beard and Rocky Hill meltdown solos) offers up a nice Hendrix imitation.
Sure, it’s largely derivative, but that doesn’t lessen the enjoyment factor. (The Acid Archives)
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