Lance Lopez - 2007 - Higher Ground

  

"Higher Ground", the amazing fourth studio disc from bad-ass Dallas blues/rock axeripper Lance Lopez featuring 11 killer tracks (64 minutes) of brain-damaging, intense, powerful, funky, soul-powered, bluesy, retro-70's Hendrix-inspired heavy guitar power trio rock that will trip your brain hard. An outstanding, bona-fide, supreme heavy guitar monster from start to finish.

2007 - Higher Ground

Track Listing:

1.   Higher Ground
2.   That's a Fact
3.   Let Me Love You
4.   El Paso Sugar
5.   Type of Girl
6.   Drinkin My Blues
7.   Every Dog Has His Day
8.   Thunderbird South
9.   Hard Livin
10. Every Time I Turn Around
11. Kool Iron Red

  Could there be a bigger monster guitar player out there than Dallas-native Lance Lopez? The guy plays gargantuan heavy Hendrix riffs that rip the cover right off the speaker. He destroys his axe, be it a flying “V”, “SG” or a Les Paul “Custom”. Here’s a guy that should be talked about in the same breath as Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Eric Gales. His six-string wizardry is primarily blues-based but there is plenty of funk, rock and metal in the mix. Hailing from Texas gives him a handle on the ‘Stevie Ray Vaughan’ shuffle heard in “Drinkin’ My Blues” and the hard driving “Thunderbird South.” Both pay homage to ‘the man’ but there’s enough of the Lopez signature aggression that keeps it original – giving respect without duplicating. Being from the Lone Star state also allows him to partner up with some of the area’s hotshot players. On this, his fourth disc, Lopez cuts saw with guest guitarists Wes Jeans and Phillip Brown where they trade licks on such blistering numbers as “Hard Livin”, “Everytime I Turn Around” and the scorching Mississippi Fred McDowell track “Kool Iron Bed.”

The disc takes its name from the Stevie Wonder hit “Higher Ground”. Lopez uses the song as his lead in track, which springs to action with a thick funky beat and finds the Hendrix soul to a signature R&B classic. The Funkadelic inspiration continues through “That’s A Fact” with a hot lead and lots of metallic muscle. Lopez augments his voice from his usual baritone gruffness to pulsed electronic fuzz then launches into Willie Dixon’s “Let Me Love You” with hard rock blues. His love affair with roots blues is very much at home in the 12-bar “Hard Livin” complete with juke joint piano. Among the many hair-raising tracks “El Paso Sugar” steals the show with its ZZ Top sting and some clever Elmore James slide. For a self-produced, self-played record Higher Ground has a remarkably beefy production. It allows the artist to pull out all the stops and work a Commodores spin on “Type of Girl” with a Bootsy Collins strut into “Every Dog Has It’s Day.” Strictly for fans of lead-foot guitar with no brakes. - Todd K. Smith (Cutting Edge) (11.07)





Thunderbird South