Midnight Creepers - Breaking Point

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1993
Time: 36:54
Size: 84,8 MB
Label: Wild Dog Blues Records
Styles: Blues
Art: Front+Back

Tracks Listing:
 1. Two Against Them All - 3:25
 2. Handful of Aces - 3:50
 3. Luberta - 3:43
 4. Another You - 4:30
 5. Harder Than I Figured - 3:51
 6. Breaking Point - 4:03
 7. Undertow - 3:31
 8. Hip Shakin' Baby - 3:43
 9. Stop Draggin' That Chain Around - 3:39
10. Space Shot - 2:33

On this, the Midnight Creepers’ third, and by far best, recording, ordinary white boy Daytona blues has become Philly funkified and gospel deep. This crack outfit functions as the King Snake Studio house band for all the fine product that rolls out of the Sanford, Florida-based studio (Kenny Neal, Raful Neal, Sonny Rhodes, Alex Taylor, Noble “Thin Man” Watts and Lucky Peterson, to name but a few). The band has undergone multiple personnel changes in recent years—bassist Bob Greenlee (King Snake’s owner) and harp player/vocalist Mike Galloway are the only original members left—but all musical bases are finally and admirably covered. The latest addition to the band, Ronnie “Byrd” Foster, is a treasure at twice the price. Not only does he add some fine funky Philly drumming to the overall sound, but he’s a fantastic vocalist, shining especially bright on the blues ballad “Another You.”
Mike Galloway’s harp playing calls to mind vintage Charlie Musselwhite, and his Gregg Allman-ish vocals have matured and deepened emotionally to the point where Galloway has become an extremely singular singer in his own right. Bob Greenlee’s steady and clever blues songwriting creates the foundation for these fine musicians to stretch out on. Although he is an extremely formulaic writer, this is exactly what makes the King Snake “sound” so familiar and dependable. Greenlee produces most of the sessions at the studio and is a major contributor to all recordings done there, from laying down the bottom on bass to coming up with (always) the right material for whoever is recording, to adding his brand of funky baritone sax to a multitude of tracks. His contributions to this project make it perhaps his finest labor of love.
But for my money, it is Warren King’s incredible guitar playing (rhythm, slide and lead) that glues everything together into a professional, slick and exciting project. His rhythm work is impeccable and his leads are creative, fiery and technically smart. His extreme good taste, coupled with Foster’s drumming, fuels this band to new heights. Lucky Peterson contributes his ever-reliable Hammond B-3 and piano licks and Bill Samuels’ soulfully correct horn arrangements are exemplary. Excellent effort all around—as good if not better than anything issued recently on any contemporary blues label.

Breaking Point