WALTER TROUT
Deep Trout (Ruf Records)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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Deep Trout is a sampler of trailblazing guitarist Walter Trout's music from 1989 to 1997 when he made his mark on the European music scene. There's a dozen cuts from his releases on the Provogue label: Breakin' the Rules (1995), Prisoner of a Dream (1991), Transition (1992), and No More Fish Jokes (a live CD from 1992) CDs, plus bonus tracks from a CD single and a studio jam with his 1972 New Jersey band, Wilmont Mews. "Kill the Monkey" is textbook rockin' blues while his electrified "Tribute to Muddy Waters" turns up the heat and the volume on some Mississippi Delta standards. Deep Trout offers an array of guitar pyrotechnics in the hands of one of the most consistent bluesman ever to pick up a Fender Stratocaster. I especially enjoyed Walter's version of Junior Wells' "So Sad to Be Lonely," and you can hear the early genius at work, long before he was a Bluesbreaker, a Free Radical, or part of Canned Heat. Check out Deep Trout online at www.rufrecords.de.

Track List:

How Much Do You Want * To Begin Again * Put It Right Back * Under My Skin * Victor the Cajun * Kill the Monkey * Running in Place * Fast Moving Traffic * Earrings on the Table * Motivation of Love * If You Just Try * Tribute to Muddy Waters Bonus Tracks: Life in the Jungle (acoustic) * Big Chain * So Sad to Be Lonely

© 2005 - Eric Steiner