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CD Reviews

George Thorogood | The Dirty Dozen

Capitol (2009)

By JEFF TAMARKIN | July 22, 2009

3.0 Stars

Before you press PLAY, you know what you're going to get on The Dirty Dozen: music to drink lots of beer by. There's nothing unpredictable about George Thorogood and the Destroyers, no pretense of progression or fine art — this is a bar band who've never aspired to be anything more. Thorogood is all about rough-edged, fuzzy blues-rock guitar with a healthy dollop of slide, Howlin' Wolf–inspired vocal grit, and songs either written by the masters or closely patterned after them.

If the Destroyers' audience has dwindled, that's as much because there's never anything new to report as it is because of the flagging horsepower of the band's recent output. But the still-faithful can relax: The Dirty Dozen is a return to form.

Although no one would ever tag these guys as originals, and blues hardliners will never accept them, Thorogood and company are capable of burning hot, and they do on this return to Capitol Records, home of the '82 best-of Bad to the Bone. The only twist: Thorogood splits the set evenly between new studio recordings and "fan favorites," returning to the Chess Records well (Wolf, Dixon, Berry, Waters, Diddley) and tossing in the odd R&B barnburner (the Roy Head raver "Treat Her Right") and country-rock staple ("Six Days on the Road," one of three previously out-of-print tracks offered as bait).

Topics: CD Reviews , George Thorogood, Roy Head, Howlin' Wolf, More

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