Blind Willies
Album: Every Day Is judgement Day
Label: Diggory
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.blindwillies.net

When you dedicate an album to the extraordinary lives of Pete Seeger, Mauric Sendak, Lou Reed and Irene Sendler (a Polish social worker who saved thousands of children from being exterminated) you have a lot to live upto.

Blind Willies are a San Francisco based rock band led by singer songwriter Alexei Wajchman, they blend folk, blues with rock beautifully, horns and cellos, flutes and banjo's all add to the varied eclectic mix.

All the songs on "Every Day Is Judgment Day" have a theme of freedom and it's many opposite forms.

A heartbeat, a train arrives, "Cremo Tango" is underway, an eastern European feel borrowing a refrain from Tadeusz Borowski's autobiographical stories of the Holocaust "This Way For The Gas" it's a grim and uncompromising start..

"42 Jews" follows. A countdown through ethnically oppressed minorities such as Palestinians, Gypsies , Slaves and righteous men holding up the world. This is not an album to easily ignore, it demands your attention, it requires you to think.

A contrast in musical style "Prey" (eat or be eaten) is lighter, numerous time changes and a track which would fit seamlessly onto Arthur Lee's Love "Forever Changes", I can't praise it any higher.

As the album unwinds, styles change and the mood becomes more current and personal, hope and expectations of escaping abusive relationships are treated with care and understanding of the paths that bring you and lead you away from the axis point.

And so it continues beautifully crafted songs dealing with difficult themes with the deft lyricism of Watjchman overall an outstanding album.

"Every Day Is Judgment Day" fully lives up to its dedication

Ian Cripps