Baum’s Bluesbenders have been around on the Bonn music scene since 1993 so you could say that this debut studio release is more than a little overdue. Not that the band needs to advertise itself of course. Their live shows have long been enjoyed by fans at pretty much every venue Bonn has, or indeed ever, had – from The Kastaniengarten at Hotel Dreesen, the KKH roof, Trinkpavillion, Harmonie and even Kunst!Rasen (supporting ZZ Top). So yes, it certainly is about time they had something to sell at the merchandise table as a reminder of a great evening’s Blues after their concerts.
For me though, and for music in Bonn too, this is more than just a long overdue studio disc. ‘Road Back Home’ is also one for the digital archives of Bonn City. A musical time-stamp of the City’s longest running Blues band. The question remains though – why the long wait? I know for a fact that 17 songs, including five that appear on the new release, have been on recordings going back as far as 2018.
So why the delay?
Norfried Baum explains:
“It took so long because of my freelance work, which leaves me with very little free time. So, I was glad that we were able to rehearse every week and also play live shows regularly. I’ve always written songs, and I have plenty of ideas for future projects. I’d been planning the Road Back Home CD for a long time. Jan Laacks’ support was crucial. When he offered to play bass and co-produce, mix, and master the album, that was the starting signal for production”.
Let’s get down to business then. There are eleven tracks in total, all of which are Norfried Baum compositions. He and Jan Laacks have co-produced, mainly at Jan’s ‘Viva La Noise’ studio in Bonn. Norfried handles all vocals and guitars with Jan on bass, Francis Holzapfel on drums and Uwe Placke on all harps. Extra help comes from Simone Alteheide’s vocals on ‘Bluesclub’, Doc Fred Prünte on organ for ‘Do you feel like I do?’, Jimmy Maxwell’s upright bass (‘Til the night is done‘) and Didi Dietrich’s congas on ‘Feel the power’.
If you’ve seen the shows then you will know most of the songs already. The band’s signature live opening number ‘Online’ also opens the disc, and lays down the band’s modus operandi from the outset with a chugging Chuck Berry riff and lyrics emphasizing that “We are here to play the Blues for you!” which is pretty much what they do for the next ten tracks on here and they do it with the panache and confidence of a band who both know and respect the genre.
The disc is very much guitar driven, more so I think than the live sets where Uwe Placke gets to show his considerable harp skills. Maybe it’s all those years selling guitars, but Norfried Baum doesn’t have his own signature sound so much as he draws eclectically from the wealth of players he admires. There’s certainly a lot of BB King in his sound, but also Peter Green as on ‘Feel the Power’, and even dare I suggest a touch of Hank Marvin on the title song (which is one of the best numbers on the disc). Elsewhere there is a nice homage to Troisdorfer Bluesclub and the days when Covid threatened to end live music as we knew it with the track ‘Bluesclub’ and the disc closes out with an enjoyable romp into Howlin’ Wolf territory with ‘Traffic Jam’ that sees Norfried channelling a fierce vocal growl to attest “I am a man. In a traffic jam!”. Shades of Michael Douglas in ‘Falling Down’. A high point for me because it melds the pasts sound with a problem from the present (which is an approach I also like about the music of Larry Garner)
The main and most important good news for Baum’s Bluesbenders fans is that this release is a worthy memento of the self-penned material of one of Bonn’s favourite bands. It’s well produced and well packaged (including band shots courtesy of 3songsbonn!). If there is a downside it’s the challenge of trying to capture the spirit of a band that has made it’s reputation onstage, bottle it, and let it loose again in a studio. In short: a lack of the intensity at times that makes Baum’s Bluesbenders such a great band onstage. Uwe Placke’s harp playing is a key counterweight to Norfried’s guitar playing at live shows, and he deserves more time in the studio spotlight than he gets here, although there is an interesting musical duel, harp on harp, going on during ‘Loving You’. He’s in good form on ‘Tell me why’ too, and on ‘Till the night is done’ he finally gets to let rip on what is the closest track here to the band’s live performances where you can almost see the audience shouting back “Yes, yes!” to the chorus.
Inevitably, Norfried Baum is centre-stage on this release. It’s Baum’s Bluesbenders after all, so it’s understandable that own compositions get priority. But a shame all the same that there is no room for classic Bluesbender covers like ‘I’ve had my fun’ and ‘Caledonia’. Understandable too that Jan Laacks, a favourite guitarist of mine from his playing on Layla Zoe’s best rock discs, doesn’t get to play lead guitar anywhere on here. I am hoping though that maybe, if this disc celebrates the end of a chapter in the life of Baum’s Bluesbenders, there might be some blues-rock in the following chapter where a Baum/Laacks partnership could be very interesting indeed.
To sum up: With the new disc Baum’s Bluesbenders really have taken ‘The Road Back Home’ with this release, and taken inspiration from both their blues heroes and their many years on the blues road to create a release choc-full of new blues songs in classic electric blues guise. It is, as Norfried describes it – “A solid declaration of love and a deep bow to all the wonderful people who created this music”.
But does a celebration of all the music and all those years on the road like this also signal it as an end of the road? It certainly signals the road’s end for ‘Bill’ Baum, who explains:
“I’ve been using the name Bill since a rockabilly project in 1980. Bill Haley was the only rock ’n’ roller with as little hair as I do! To me, “Road Back Home” means a journey back to my musical roots and, at the same time, a step back to my origins – to myself. That’s why I won’t be using Bill anymore; from now on, I’ll only use my real name”.
So goodbye Bill, and hello Norfried. The good news is that he’s still Baum and there is still a Band called Baum’s Bluesbenders. Long may it continue to be so, and just maybe the release of a live recording for the record archives gentlemen?
