The immortally-monikered SWAMP CABBAGE are a gutsy, roots-infused power trio from the Southern states featuring Richie Havens’ long-term guitarist Walter Parks, bassist Matt Lindsey and drummer Jagoda. No surname/ Christian name, simply Jagoda.
And between them, they kick up a mighty thunder. Their album “Honk” has been pieced together around Parks’ touring commitments, but this reviewer for one is glad he stuck at it, for the results are cohesive and impressive and simply steeped in the best of the South, taking in the kind of malevolent boogie both the Allmans and Kings Of Leon have indulged in as well as cruising into fork-tongued Louisiana bayous en route.
Fine opener “Tallahassee” gives you some idea what to expect. Basically the sound of ZZ Top jamming with 16 Horsepower on the set of ‘Deliverance’, it’ driven on by Walter’s malevolent honey’n’gravel growl while Lindsey’s swinging bass farts like a malignant bullfrog and Jagoda batters away like Levon Helm marching the length of Bourbon Street. All of which are extremely good things, in case you were wondering.
Great start, and SC really loosen up as the album develops from there. Songs like “If A Thing Feels Right” and “Southern Hospitality” ride along on potent Keefchording, Jagoda’s drums skittering all over the street and guest Roger Butterley adding some warm and discreet Hammond organ; the suggestive “More Booty With Buddha” finds them getting low down and seriously phonky with the rhythm section vamping imperiously and “The Lid” recalls the wonderfully groovy white-boy blues Free excelled at.
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Rightly, the band’s Southern heritage is always bubbling away beneath the surface and when it bursts through, it’s a truly glorious thing to behold. To this end, witness both “The Dipstick Rag” and “Silver Meteor”, where Swamp Cabbage play with the marvellous rootsy economy of Creedence Clearwater Revival and summon the ghost of Clarence White. The album’s final stretch is memorable, too, including the all-too brief “Jersey City” - where Parks swaps his red guitar for some heavy-duty banjo picking – and the epic seven-minute workout that is “Kilowatt”: surely SC’s very own “Keep On Chooglin’” with Lindsey’s bass buzzing like a hive of wild bees and the harmonica blaring maniacally. Excellent.
“Honk”, then, proves conclusively that even the vagaries of fashion can’t keep a great, gutbucket groove down. Swamp Cabbage are anything but dwarfed by their Southern lineage and walk the banks of their green river with pride, so the least we can do is treat these here gentlemen with the respect they deserve.
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