'The Bath Chronicle' review, 2001
Bath-based Kevin Brown has long been one of the finest blues guitarists in the UK, but modern studio wizardry and the music business in general had been wearing him down as well. Armed with a selection of acoustic guitars, picks and slides, Kevin set out to recapture the heart of the blues. And, as a quick listen to Mojave Dust will confirm, the album is a success from start to finish. A longer listen shows that he managed to compress Dylan's two-step journey of renewal into one tremendous original compositions, along with a fine cover of the Robert Johnsod classic, Traveling Riverside Blues.
From the title song's bare lyric ('Mojave dust, what have you done / You got me hooked on you and I'm on the run') and spectral slide guitar runs to the autumnal ruminations (with faded Hawaiian slack key shadings) of the closing When Saturday Comes, this is far and away the most rewarding release yet from Kevin. The consistency of mood and general excellence of the songs makes it hard to pick out high spots, but as well as the opener and close, Something In The Breeze and Into The Stone are early favourites, along with the memorable Alcohol.
Back in the early 1990s, a weary Bob Dylan retreated to his home studio and, armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a tape recorder, attempted to recapture the fire that had ignited his muse all those years ago. The immediate result was two lovely albums of folk and blues (Good AS I Been To You and World Gone Wrong), but more importantly the muse was reactivated, and two amazing albums of original compositions (Time Out Of Mind and the just released Love And Theft) followed. Bath-based Kevin Brown has long been one of the finest blues guitarists in the UK, but modern studio wizardry and the music business in general had been wearing him down as well. Armed with a selection of acoustic guitars, picks and slides, Kevin also set out to recapture the heart of the blues. And, as a quick listen to Mojavé Dust will confirm, the album is a success from start to finish.
As for that new Bob Dylan album, it is hard to credit that he could improve on 1997's stunning 'Time Out Of Mind', but I would stick out my neck and say that you'd have to go back over quarter of a century to find an album he's made that is as impressive as this one. Again, every song is a stand-out, but you'd have to look a long time to find as good an elects
