Tom Walbank and the Ambassadors – Mudhook Vol. II / 2005 Rock N’ Roll Purgatory / 8 Tracks / walbanktom@hotmail.com / http://www.rocknrollpurgatory.com / Reviewed 01 December 2005

This swamp-rock seems to derive more from Frank Zappa than Leadbelly; I listen through “You Got Trouble” just waiting for a drop of the “central scrutinizer” epithet. The production of the disc allows for enough of a kind sound to really let the nuanced instrumentation to shine, but provides enough grit to show Tom Walbank and the Ambassadors as the continuers of an old art form.

While the tracks are all original, a song like “Howlin’ Tomcat” seems to be taken verbatim from recordings fifty or so years ago. This is a period band if I’ve ever heard one, and the cohesion that “Mudhook Vol. II” enjoys is near perfect. Even if the style played by Tom Walbank and the Ambassadors has not been popular in any large sense for about seventy years, there is a kernel of catchiness here that is present in practically every radio-friendly track. While songs like “Nighthawk Blues” seem destined for random play on NPR, one should not be too terribly amazed if an alternative station or two picks up the track. The guitar work is by far the most audible section of any of the tracks on “Mudhook Vol. II”, and while it has a tried and true sound based on previous acts, there are sections during tracks like “Raincloud Woman” when Tom’s vocals achieve a tenor that absolutely beg individuals to not shiver. The Spartan arrangements that make it big on “2 Steps from the Gutter” perhaps are the best laid down by TWatA as they really describe the meandering, hunched-over slump of a drunk with eir first 40 of the day. The disc may only be thirty-five minutes for the differing arrangements used by the act really give “Mudhook Vol. II” a tremendous replay value.

This is paradoxical enough, as “Tamp It Down Solid” uses a structure to the track that literally been done to death; what really gets TWatA style points here is by re-casting the song to really show a side not previously visible. There may be a problem with this album by fans of more current brands of music, but as was previously said there is something residing on each and every track on “Mudhook Vol. II” that will infect a listener’s mind and reside there until they die. An interesting piece that does not rely on the same three chords for influence, but from something much older and venerable.

Top Track: X80

Rating:6.0/10

[JMcQ]