Captive Cooks – Easy Bake Lovin’
MeatSheet Better Late Than Never
(Released Spring 2020)
Here’s what you need to know about the Captive Cooks. One sentence. Soulful Blues driven Rock from Phoenix Arizona.
This Captive Cooks latest album, still new enough for me to put it up in ‘new’. This album has the key elements that make a work of art stand out. There is a soul to it that has been captured time and time again in music history. It’s the feeling you can’t write about and capture with words very accurately because as soon as you put words to it you could diminish it. Take a listen , now here. https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rz3vJ3LJsrVfBhFJqGrTf?si=HotCQXDTQw-3dpcnxxyLDA&fbclid=IwAR3EVQbTZ5pj77oEPKQxtznxQuX9dDvszMTtXETQdTsDkt14LIKeRZ7AQRM
Alex’s lyrics and vocals have an unforced, sincere and vulnerable delivery. You can’t get this sound unless you have suffered some disconnect and / or you are emulating the greats before you.The keyboard tone equally soulful, a bit melancholy, and at times downtempo and chill. The rhythm section is on point as they almost recede into the background but due to successful mastering they ‘re keeping perfect time.
Allow me to review a few tracks. Easy- Bake LP opens with Shadow In The Room. This track is traditional Blues. I hear some of Led Zeppelin – Since I’ve Been Loving You working here. Right before the 5 minute mark or so it gets funky, the Cooks begin to groove and the keys bring in a Ray Manzarek flavor as far as tonality.
As Far As I Can Tell is a bit dirtier with mischievous over driven 12 bar guitar intro. ‘Round two minutes in, the tempo kicks in as the background vocals validate Alex’s lead about getting ‘yo ass home’. There is a sweet bass and drum interlude and then a guitar solo. I can hear some of Cook’s heroes in this which takes you to the end of the track. A little John Paul Jones keyboards as heard in No Quarter. The guitar solo has a lot of wailing bends that sustain, and good choice of variable speed picking.
Raven’s Rest feels like a soothing road trip, a touch of funky psychedelia but staying true to the blues.
The drum fills definitely add a flavorful contrast from the steadiness of the journey you’re on. Illimitato and Thank Lenny both capitalize on guitar and keyboard chords (major 7ths ? ) that you may know and love from RHCP Under the Bridge, Jimi Hendrix , Thin Lizzy. Thanks Lenny borrows more from Phil Lynott’s than Illimitato’s gentle sounds of the sun just coming up after staying up all night. Both are mellow cruises.
Easy Bake Lovin’ is solid. The Cooks wear their influences on their sleeve, play very well, and don’t have time to bullshit the listener. It’s straightforward and direct. The songs are longer than what used be on the dead medium known as terrestrial radio, but I don’t think that diminishes the shine on each one. If I were more familiar with Blues as a genre I may find a better description, but if you love music in general , you should get some authentic feels out this record. Here are links that will help both me and the readers with essential reference points. https://rateyourmusic.com/list/erikfish/best_blues_albums_of_all_time___10_lists_combined/
Hard to rate this with a number so I’ll just let what I wrote stand. This record is a must for blues and those who miss the classic musicians of the rock world’s past.