YVES BISQUET OTHER WRITINGS

Jon Spencer is a rarity among blues shouters I have known in that he was born above the Mason-Dixon line. There is a Yankee ingenuity and simplicity in his approach to the blues that belies the complexity of his range of emotions. His songs, according to my friend, the eminent blues scholar L. Haddad (who has made a study of them), usually begin with a simple, emphatic statement of dynamic tension (e.g. "Bellbottoms!"). This statement is repeated several times, with Spencer eking every bit of emotion from it as he and the band build the musical riff into a pulsating frenzy that demands release. Finally Spencer elucidates the resolution ("Blues Explosion!"), the band charges into the tonic, and another cycle is begun. This dichotomy of tension-resolution builds and builds until by song's end one is delirious, catatonic, or both. It should come as no surprise that the resolution so often includes the exhortation "Blues Explosion!" because Spencer's explosion of blues is truly the only solution to the musical conundrums he postulates. Like so many of the blues greats that preceded him, Spencer is able to work this basic formula without ever appearing formulaic. That, I believe, is the greatest test of any blues.

On their latest release, Orange, the Blues Explosion open with a nod to a more plush, Stax feel for the blues with the aid of a full string section! Other unusual touches include the use of "scratching" and a guest appearance by media sensation and blues aficionado Beck. Despite these unconventional elements, the disc is solidly grounded in the blues and can definitely be seen as the Blues Explosion's statement about the blues today. Other reviewers have dwelt on the diverse components of Spencer's sound, and in truth, the rockabilly and soul influences are there to be enjoyed; however, it is obvious to me that first and foremost the Blues Explosion are a blues band as their name attests. In the little over three years since their nascence, they have leapt to the forefront of the modern blues revival. Along with their contemporaries the `68 Comeback, Workdogs, Bassholes, Railroad Jerk, etc., the Blues Explosion have found a new twist for an old form -- a method for transporting into the next century this quintessential music of American poverty. Few have been as blessed as I to have worked at one time or another with most of these bands, and to have witnessed them, Spencer in particular, perform an amazing magic. With the use of whiskey and a handful of broken-down amps they have conjured up the spirit of Howlin' Wolf, Hound Dog Taylor and all the others and sent them careening into the future while somehow preserving the very essence of blues passed. This necromancy is not without its price: I witnessed the Blues Explosion break up three times during the recording of this disc.

Such internal pressures are not rare on the scene, with its grind of constant touring (the Blues Explosion are on the road three hundred days a year!). Add in the pressures of money, love and substance abuse problems and such break-ups are inevitable. One can only be elated -- as I am -- that the lads were able to put aside these petty concerns, to combine their particular chemistry, add in a full measure of the blues and explode!

Yves Bisquet
NYC, July 1994