Already Free - The Derek Trucks Band

All right, so after 28 years of being a music fan, this is my first official attempt at album review writing, so please bear with me: it will probably be messy, as a review from me has so far consisted of either "it's good" or "it sucks".

The Derek Trucks Band's Already Free, which came out this past January, just happens to be the lucky (or unlucky, we'll see) guinea pig.

I did not even know about this band until April 15th, 2008, when I attended a Santana concert in Montreal. The band was doing the first part, and even though I found them pretty good (progressive blues, if that's possible), it was not until Derek himself joined Santana during his set for some jamming that my jaw really, really dropped, when I fully realised I was listening to what had to be one of the best, if not the best, guitar player of this generation. By then, I had not seen the Rolling Stones Magazines 100 Greatest Guitarist Of All Time and did know that at 24 then, Derek was the youngest player to make the list. I did not know either that he was Butch Trucks's, from the Allmans, nephew, or that he had started touring at 11, and formed the DTB by mid-adolescence, joined by madly skilled Todd Smallie on bass and Yonrico Scott on percussion. Then, there was the addition of Kofi Burbridge on flute and keyboards, Count M'Butu on congas, and finally Mike Mattison's sweetly husky vocals in 2002.

The guitar generous (well, obviously) twelve tracked Already Free is the band's sixth studio release. Besides the talents of the usual band member, the DTB has enlisted the help of fellow guitar player Doyle Bramhall II (whom you may remember from you last Eric Clapton concert) to co-write and co-produce a couple of songs: the funky Something To Make You Happy, Maybe This Time, and Our Love, for which he took on lead vocal duty (both of which I'm sorry to say are probably the weakest songs on the album) as well as the more upbeat and blues-rock Get What You Deserve.

The happiest collaborations of all is from Trucks' wife herself, the wonderful Susan Tedeschi lending her voice to Back Where I Started. Besides those songs, we find the usual blend of genres this band has used made its trademark: a bit of jazz, some rock, plenty of blues, plenty of jamming, a smaller dash of raga rock here and there (oh, I could use more raga anytime, I Know has some, but not nearly enough). The album strongly starts with a very decent Bob Dylan cover of Down In The Flood (from The Basement Tapes), quickly moving into Something To Make You Happy before dropping the ball a little with the "been there, done that" mid-tempo pop ballad Maybe This Time.

Thankfully, we then get to Sweet Inspiration, an enthusiastic near gospel song that serve as a perfect frame to show off Mike's vocals. Luckily for him, in fact, because the quality of the musicians is sometimes so high that we can't help but wonder why the band thinks they need him. Don't Miss Me is also very strong, with some lovely guitar work and a catchy chorus. We then find a strong rocker in Get What You Deserve, which is followed by the weak Our Love, which mercifully redeems itself with some amazing slide guitar work. The same problems occurs with Down Don't Bother Me, which I could not help but think could have actually been better without a lead vocalist.

This last song is followed with Days Is Almost Gone, on which we find the best, most intense vocal performance my Mattison, one we nonetheless risk forgetting because we immediately get Tedeschi's amazing rendition of Back Where I Started right afterward, before moving on to the pseudo raga intro of I Know. The title and final song is a pretty, short, bluegrass and southern rock mixture that never really builds up into a climax, and end the whole album on a pretty quiet note, literally.

It's a great album, don't let a few weaker songs make you think otherwise. If the near extinction of those Eastern influences we felt on other records could be due to a desire to be a more marketable band, I'd be quite sorry. Yet knowing that this album was recorded in Trucks's new home recording studio reassures me that this was probably more a personal choice of the band than a commercially induced decision. I'll just move toward other bands to get that feel, and leave the DTB to make their own brand of jam music just the way they like it. Such skills forgive anything.

Overall, I'd give this album a nice 8 out of 10, easily awarding songs like Down In The Flood, Sweet Inspiration and Back Where I Started a perfect 10. It's a great addition to any blues and rock fan, and one any guitar fan absolutely needs.