Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation – Memory of Pain
Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation – Watch’n Chain
Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation – Sage of Sidney Street
One of the many many sidemen associated with John Mayall, drummer Aynsley Dunbar fronted a very good band on his own. This self-titled record was their debut full-length, though it’s less well-known than their true debut, a single which includes the original version of “The Warning,” later covered by Black Sabbath. Most of the tracks on this record are pretty straight forward blues, though there are hints of New Orleans (as on “Watch’n Chain”) and some post-bop jazz throughout. The thing that I find striking about this record is the sound of it. The production on the record has this dark, kind of hollow, distant, slightly echoey sound, which gives some of the tracks this real eerie feel to them. That sound comes across best on the best track on this set, “Memory of Pain” originally penned by Percy Mayfield. The boys really give this one a solid workout, just a perfect bit of 60s slow-tempo British blues, with some unbelievably heavy drums, tasty organ and some mighty fine guitar work from Jon Morshead, though you’d swear it was Peter Green. There are a couple of instrumentals on this record too, I’ve included my favorite of the two, “Sage of Sydney Street” which focuses primarily on Alex Dmochowski’s bass, but has some nice work by the whole group at the beginning and end.
Cheers,
Michael