Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin – Common Ground LP NEW W- CD Online now

Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin – Common Ground LP

NEW. SEALED.

Includes CD copy of album.

Yep Roc Records

Blasters founders Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin have had a famously combative relationship over the years, but as Dave once said, We argue sometimes, but we never argue about Big Bill Broonzy. So it s fitting that their love of Big Bill brings them together in the recording studio for their first album together since the Blasters Hard Line in 1985. Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play & Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy features the Alvin Brothers performing a dozen songs from the Broonzy songbook, and while listening to this is a potent reminder of how good Broonzy s songs still sound in the 21st century, it also demonstrates the complementary talents of Dave and Phil Alvin. Dave is the hot-shot (but musically savvy) guitarist whose fiery leads and switchblade solos give the melodies a spark they wouldn t have with Phil calling all the shots, and Phil has the outsized, passionate vocal style that brings Big Bill s tales to life in a way Dave s more modest instrument can t quite match (though Dave sings as well, and doesn t embarrass himself when he steps up to the mike). Put them together, and in this context you don t get the Blasters, but you do get something that recalls a bit of the wild fun that band knew how to conjure. It s clear the Alvins love this music and know how to mess with it in just the right way, and they don t treat Broonzy s tales of all manner of wild living like museum pieces, but as vital, living bits of American music, and that s how they sound on this album. Common Ground isn t The Return of the Alvin Brothers so much as a joyous continuation of the mission they launched when the Blasters first hit the stage in 1979, and if they re a little older and craggier in 2014, they clearly know how to make this stuff rock, and this is a modest triumph for one of roots rock s most fascinating partnerships.