On their new Starshine album, Connecticut’s blues, soul, R&B, oldies rock and roll amalgam The Name Droppers deliver more of the kind of emotive, heartfelt snappy soul grooves they’ve become well known for. Only this time around, their album is a bit more slick, possesses a little more of the motion filled groove and fine responses from the upper registers.
Title track “Starshine” kicks off the action a peppy groove, pulling the listener right in. A spoken-sung vocal approach balances perfectly with a hooky, choir-like chorus, compliments of guest soul singer Simone Brown. Hip, likable, the singers ooze charisma as they strut over a fill-laden drum pattern. One cannot help but get caught up in this.
A greasy lead guitar ushers us into the slick R&B number “Sweet Little Angel.” Soulful vocals and a blues club piano line combine to create a nightlife vibe. One can picture this tune being played at a late night venue packed with all sorts of characters. It’s got the kind of tension in that makes people want to act out in all kinds of ways.
“Whiskey” is a jumping groove affair, its beats and low end motivating the feet to move. The chorus makes one want listen up closely, a pause between an equally cool Bobby T. Torello lead vocal. A lead guitar dips and rises to the gripping groove and makes this tune even more irresistible.
Slow boiler “Shades Of Blue” finds a bluesy Rafe Klein vocal carrying a heavy emotive load. One feels all that the singer is feeling, that voice finding a good home here among simmering organ, brittle lead guitar parts, and ever so right stick work behind the drum kit. Those sticks have a good feel for all the upper register weight it is carrying as the rest of the band pours soulful gravy over all. Klein gets an assist from New York City crooner Carole Sylvan, the two widening the vocal flight and making it fully real.
Mid-tempo jaunt “I Died, You Cried” gets its bulbous groove from bass player Scott Spray and hard hitting piano notes from Mr. Ron Rifkin. It’s a conversation between the rhythm section that makes this all happen. Above that rhythmic spread is a flavorful vocal, a self-restrained dandy of a rasp that rolls over the melody while keeping the emotive tenderness front and center.
“Can’t Take It With You” is pure blues, from its loose drum fills to its scratchy lead guitar. Klein’s lead vocal is rich with character. His street wise philosophy makes us appreciate the more important things in life as his swaggering, plaintive guitar hits the listener’s cool button.
“Rotten Person” rocks with a forceful pound. Its cantankerous lead guitar grind can knock down anything in its path. Ron Rifkin’s spicy piano jive can keep a joint hopping. A raspy vocal states plenty of gripes in cool vibe manner while putting a serious bite behind the lyrics. An resistless groove is born when the rhythm boys inject plenty of low end muscle and a generous amount of rollicking drum fills.
This band’s killer blues version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” will blow your socks off. It’s uncanny how well they let raspy vocals from Ron Rifkin, an acoustic blues guitar from the band’s late guitarist Charlie Karp courtesy of AI, a saucy organ, and a loose groove replicate that pop classic with a deep down and dirty Mississippi Delta Blues feeling. One can feel the desperate hope of field workers inside all of the greasy motions going on here, greasy motions clearly inspired by the original’s busy pop energy.
Slow groovin’ “Red Sea Blues” lets the lead vocal stretch its soulful exuberance as a choir -like backing vocal shadows with a deep spiritual feeling. It’s a slow dance number for this band’s live shows. It’s a tasty cut of cool, dark blues for their fans. The rhythm section carries this one with just the right feel for how much time the upper registers need to lay gravy over the meat and potatoes. One can feel the rhythm section feeling the emotive grist and just laying down those appropriate fills and tasteful low end.
The doo-wop influenced number “Joy, Pain, Sky” features Simone Brown as a one woman choir dancing with a Rafe Klein blues rasp. The call and response motions between the two layer this tune with ladles of heartfelt cool. Klein’s guitar work is made up of lead-rhythm switches, a brittle melody line that doubles back on the rhythm section ever so swiftly before returning to the melody line. That injects extra motion into this carefully crafted perspective song.
The Namedroppers just keep getting better with time. They maintain an old fashioned sense of blues, oldies rock and roll, R&B, and soul. This new Starshine album, even slicker with experience than previous works, keeps a persistent snap, crackle, and some more snap throughout. As usual though, these Connecticut boys keep the feet motivated. Producer Vic Steffens, so attuned to this band, turned the knobs rightly at his Horizon Music Studios.
