Scott Henderson & Thelma Houston - Tore Down House

Monstrous Modern Blues

Tore Down House was Scott Henderson's second blues release, and he expands on the musical territory first explored on Dog Party. Henderson brings his harmonically sophisticated approach to bear on a variety of blues-based compositions. Tore Down House opens with hard-hitting funk of Dolomite, which conjures visions of 70's blaxploitation movies. The title track is a colossal blues, melding jazz-level harmonic imagination, Hendrixian scorch, and Thelma Houston's soaring vocals. Meter Maid features a Bo Diddley beat married to crunching guitars. I Hate You starts out as a hilarious parody of 50's love songs, syrupy chord changes and all, before Henderson's metallic solo takes the song into another dimension. Gittar School is an Stevie Ray Vaughn-styled vehicle with silly-but-funny lyrics. Xanax is one of the highlights, pairing Henderson's raw, no-holds-barred guitar with Thelma Houston's intense vocals. Continuum provides a respite before the hard blues-rock assault of You Get Off On Me, the heavy-hitting slow blues Mocha, and the jackhammer funk of Harpoon. The nonsensical lyrics on Tore Down House will be a turnoff to blues purists, but I kind of admire the fact that Henderson didn't try to write typical blues lyrics. The more compelling thing about Tore Down House is Henderson's expansion and re-imagination of blues-rock guitar. A stellar effort. March 16, 2005

This is a lot of fun

This album is a great blend of huge guitar tone, kick-ass playing, nice arrangements and a great sense of humour.

"I Hate You" is funny as hell, and Thelma Houston really nails it, too.

The Arrangement of "Continuum" is really sweet and I think it brings out the spirit of the original, even though the instrumentation is totally different. (Although this is very subjective - I wonder what Jaco would have thought of it!).

If you don't have a sense of humour or if you have already made up your mind that Scott can't play blues because he is a fusion player, then this is not for you.
March 14, 2005

magic scott

one of the monsters,in the same level of many of the fussion greats,great band,many of the new guitar players should listen to guys like henderson. February 6, 2004

1 track wonder

Scott Henderson is a phenomenal guitar player, however, a blues songwriter he is not.
The opening track, a funky bluey instrumental, is a grooving masterpiece of dynamics, phrasing & just all out guitar cool.
The solo is one of my favourites of all time.
The rest of the album is incredibly unlistenable.
Super hokey "blues" songs that sound like some burned out session musician penned junk ie. souless & empty.
Sure the performances are clean & Henderson pulls out some cool guitar moments, but whatever. it's dreck.
The opener is the bomb tho... July 10, 2003

Blues Can't BE The Same

You will listen to this CD and wonder if the blues can ever be the same.

This is really pushing into new territory.

mahavishnu mojo November 18, 2002

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