Great Soul And Blues With Lisa Marshall

Bruce Von Stiers

I first came across Lisa Marshall when she had this trio thing going called Peculiar Boogie. It was kind of a rock meets blues with some Janis Joplin thrown in. In other words, really cool music.

I hadn’t kept track of Lisa but recently checked her out again. I found out that Lisa has recorded a six song EP that represents the direction her music is going. The EP is titled Simple and is really, really good.

Lisa wrote all of the songs on Simple. She also played most of the instruments on it. A guy who goes by Scottie X played bass on two of the songs. Kevin Fallon did guitar solos on a couple of songs. Eric Manegold played drums on two songs, while Nick Salzetti played drums on another. And somebody named E. Pruitt was on bass for a song.

Moody blues rock can be found in the first song, Swamp Song. This is the kind of tough song that reminded me of Lisa’s Peculiar Boogie days.

Lisa slows things down with the title track, Simple. It is an aching, rock tinted R & B love ballad. This is one of the songs with the great guitar solo.

Bring Yourself Back is a song that has some very good music. Aching blues mixed with an orchestral feel and a touch of rock is what I got from the music. And the vocal are at times aching, other times smooth and lyrical. It is a really good song with some Janis Joplin styled vocals at various points.

Sooner or Later has a slight echoing effect in its vocals. Another rock tinted blues piece, it fits well with the rest of the album.

High On Her Perch is a tough rock influenced song ala Janis Joplin.

Lisa ends the EP with a too cool song called Got 2 See You. It has the spark and energy of Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits.

Simple is simply a great soul and blues album. With the right exposure, Lisa Marshall could become ever bit as famous as Janis or even Tina.

Check Lisa Marshall at http://lisamarshallmusic.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/lisamarshallmusic.

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