NICK MOSS & THE FLIP TOPS
Sadie Mae (Blue Bella Records)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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Nick Moss & the Flip Tops' newest CD will likely land on my top-five blues CD list next January where Cosmik Debris staff shout about their favorite releases of 2005. While I enjoyed his other three releases on his Blue Bella label, I'm wild about Sadie Mae. If I hadn't read producer and music journalist Dick Shurman's excellent liner notes to Sadie Mae, I'd've sworn that Nick's 16 cuts were laid down at 2120 South Michigan Avenue 50 years ago and produced by Chess. Think classic guitar-fueled Chicago blues, circa 1953. Nick's never been better, and I hope his CD Sadie Mae helps pay his daughter Sadie Mae's college tuition 17 years down the line. When I turn up "Everybody Got to Go," "The Money I Make," or "If I Could Get My Hands On You," I hear Nick's musical apprenticeship with Jimmy Dawkins and Jimmy Rogers, two giants of the Chicago blues sound. Nick's touring up to 20 nights a month, and there are very, very few Chicago blues bands working this hard to promote traditional Chicago blues like Nick Moss & the Flip Tops. Follow Nick and his band on the road at www.nickmoss.com and pick up Sadie Mae. Proof positive that Chicago blues is in good hands.

Track List:

Sadie Mae * I Never Forget * Check My Pulse * Just Like That * Ridin' at the Ranch * One-Eyed Jack * Grease Monkey * The Money I Make * Feel So Ashamed * The Coldcut Stomp * The Bishop * You Got to Lose * If I Could Get My Hands on You * Crazy Woman Blues * Everybody Got to Go * Gone Hoggin'

© 2005 - Eric Steiner