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Christopher Dean Band - What I Need

Lost World Music

www.christopherdeanband.com

13 tracks

This CD is like a Motown blues and soul oldies party done up in a fresh and interesting way. Dean fronts the band singing and on guitar and has been schooled well by older brother Chris Foti who does the bass work here along with some backing vocals. Chip Dixon on drums also does backing and lead vocals on some tracks.

Dean opens with a Mel Waiters song (“Hole in the Wall”) and by the time he finished I was a believer. These white guys (good Italian boys from Central Jersey no less!) really are funky and soulful! Dean offers up 3 originals with 10 covers, and they are all fun. “What I Need” is a traditional sounding original soul tune that Dean delivers with conviction; his vocals are quite good. The horn section backing him of Jim Davis and Chris Lehman is also quite convincing.

The bluesy side of the album also rocks. “Mother In Law” and “All Your Love” are deeply blue and well done. “Mother In Law” starts out with greasy harp (Mike Metallia) and Dean bounces around this track nicely. Keys by Carl Snyder here and on several other tracks are pretty good, too. The Magic Sam cover is also quite well done by Dean, both vocally and on guitar. His vocals throughout are clean and very much spot on.

Johnny Rawls “Lucky Man” is another well done cover here. Again Dean’s guitar and vocals work the song well and make for a good listen. Even the grotesquely over played hit “The Love I Lost” gets a decent enough cover with an assortment of keys, horns and vocals making it sound good and fresh.

The CD is dedicated to Dean’s father Theodore Foti who passed in early 2009. He apparently was a huge musical influence to Dean and his brothers and sisters. He must have done a good job with his kids- I liked this CD a lot. It's a grooving and funk filed soul and blues CD. Dean’s been at it hot and heavy since he was 14 and has played professionally for 18+ years since graduating high school. He’s got a great soul sound vocally and plays some really good guitar. I enjoyed this New Jersey regional band and think soulful blues fans will, too!

Reviewer Steve Jones is secretary of the Crossroads Blues Society in Rockford, IL.

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