This CD was recorded back in 1994/5 and is all orginal Mulcahy material, except for track
one, 'Have I got Blues for You' written with Drummer Ray Marquis.
This opener is a classy, restrained number with a guitar sound I would place somewhere
between Stevie Ray Vaughn on the Jennifer Warnes 'Famous Raincoat' album and Eric Claptons sound
of the same period. A lovely rounded tone, but with a nice amount of sustain and capable of honking and
snorting in all the right places! The Bass sound has that 'Black Velvet' type of feel to it and
this track is augmented by Hammond Organ from John Menlove.
A great listen at early morning over coffee or late at night over something stronger.
The next track up 'Have I got Blues For You' is also strong, being a lively 12 Bar stomp
featuring some great harmonica from Mark Nichols, I could imagine Clive launching one of his
audience meet'n'greets during this number.
The mood is toned right down and mellowed out for the next number, a great smoochy duet
with Keaton O'Rourke entitled 'I Don't Mind'. Keatons singing is superb and the lyrics are as
simple, elegant and classy as the sparse guitar figures
that embellish this summer-breeze number. A lovely song, I would have loved to hear some
mellow brass here if it could have been shoe-horned in.
'Baby Please' is a slowish stomp , maybe a little in the mould of The Doors 'Roadhouse Blues',
lots of snorting guitar.
'Shiny Shoes' kicks off on what I think is a Mandola (Clive?) and has a nice down home feel
to it, and develops into a characterful piece, with some lovely atmospheric use of slide and cymbal splashes.
'SNAFU' as you'd expect spells out a story with a frustrated ending!
'Change in the weather' is another great ballad, with some really expressive guitar playing and
a lovely fretless bass line from Phil Wilson again I would love to hear the great arrangement and guitar
augmented with some mellow brass to make an outstanding performance.
'Corrina' is a tribute to a certain type of girl, and this number bursts with energy.
'Four O'clock in the morning' - a slower blues with a nice bridge, one of many number I would like to hear
live. Parts of the refrain remind me of the later parts of Pink Floyds 'Money'
'Rock It Up' seems to draw from rock n roll roots whilst also sounding a little bit country. An interesting
number that mixes genres in an original way and ends with a wop-bop-a-loo-bop on guitar.
'Screwball' is a tricky little number, with a finger twisting riff worthy of the name.
'Mama Wants a Working Man' is an excuse for a long drawn out groove prefaced by a gospel-style chant of the title,
and thats fine by me, plenty of tasty slide and plenty of well chosen licks thrown in and
mixed about.
Overall a very nice album to own, well conceived, well played and recorded and with a
number of excellent original songs and a pleasing variety of material. The production is very clear
and as a lover of the live album I was slightly aware that I was missing the sheer energy of a live performance,
especially as the sound of a maxed-out valve amp often gives the guitar the extra exciting edge
over what is already in this case a great sound. However I soon found a solution to the problem,
- play it very loud! It would be nice to see Clive and band
acheiving the recognition they deserve.
"The Clive Mulcahy Band is heading towards some more recording as soon as I get another 3 or 4 songs
written for it. On the live front I'm currently playing with 'Bad Town Blues' (Keys,Harp,Gtr,Bass,Kit) and we are half way
through recording our first original CD.
I've played the (Brentwood) festival several times since 95 (might have been '96). Denny Newman
and myself played an acoustic support slot to Peter Greens' Splinter group, and the previous year Dennys' rhythm
section and myself backed Johnny Mars the harp player - an interesting gig. However the covers band has come
to an end which is good in a sense because it was making me lazy.
Amp wise I'm not using the (Fender) Concerts any more, I've gone back to my old Twin (Original Blackface and I have a spare!)
, I also use a 70's Deluxe and a reissue Bassman linked together, and ocassionally a reissue Mk1 Boogie
with JBL speakers, - oh and I have a JTM45 but haven't tried it yet and a Leslie cabinet!
I've also acquired a lot of new guitars - 335, Flying V, Dobro, National and a small Martin.
In the meantime I keep very busy with private teaching and I'm a 0.5 lecturer on a BTEC Pop Music course."
Here's what Clive had to say back in early 1996;
"We've just taken delivery of 500 copies of our first CD 'Mama Wants' which I'm hoping will
promote the band.
We're headlining the all day gigs at the theatre in Brentwood this Saturday the 30th and we're
making up press kits for the agents and trying to get distribution for the CD.
We have also just recorded six new songs 'live' in the studio and will be sending brief
snatches of this and from the the CD together with Biog. to gigs in the area.
Its all very time consuming , so the teaching has taken a bit of a back seat at the
moment. I also teach 2 days a week at Harlow College on the 'Pop music' course and play
in a pub band called 'Easy Money' who are
also helping to promote the CD, so I don't have much time to think.
The Lap steel is a 6 stringer tuned to A (E A E A C# E) and I tune the guitar to
G (D G D D B D) for slide and also play a bit of slide in standard tuning. Don't get on very
well with E (E B E G# B E) although I do own a double neck lap steel with E and A necks and
an 8 string Fender lap steel tuned to c6 (A C E G A C E G ) instant 'Hawaian' or C&W."
Regarding the stack of amps he uses on stage Clive had this to say;
"The extra knob on the (Fender) Concert in only the 'return' volume - I use the Concerts as slaves - (I have 2) the other one was a Custom cabinet and 1x15" JBL.
I am a bit of an amp nut, having a Bassman, Vibroverb, 2 old Black Face twins, the 2 Concerts and a Boogie. My son works at Marshall and I'm toying with the idea of a 'Bluesbreaker'. Having said that I really need to sell some amps to make some room!
Clive Mulcahy discusses his guitars, lap steels , tunings and amplifiers
Here's an update from Clive (March 2002)