Franck L. Goldwasser Who Needs this Mess!!?

July 7, 2023

Franck L. Goldwasser

Who Needs this Mess!!?

Crosscut

Veteran blues fans recall “Paris Slim’s” sets with the Mannish Boys and perhaps some of his other collaborations with West Coast blues artists. Now the French-born guitarist/vocalist, using his given name Franck L. Goldwasser, returns with a solo album, Who Needs this Mess!!?, on which the title track features some of those former colleagues – Charlie Musselwhite, Sugaray Rayford, Jim Pugh, and Kirk Fletcher. Basically, Goldwasser sallies forth with a trio – producer/bassist Ralph Carter and drummer Johnny Morgan with harmonicist R.J. Mischo sitting in on three tracks. Curiously, the credits read “and others” without citing any further names. He recorded the tracks in California from 2019-2021 with “Bleeding Heart” added from Portland’s 2014 Waterfront Festival. Most tunes, a generous fifteen, are from the team of Goldwasser and Carter.

The shuffling “Don’t Give Up on Me, Baby” opens with Goldwasser’s rather plain but acute phased vocal and his stinging guitar lines. Like all but three, it’s in the three-four-minute range. There’s an unnecessary screaming whoosh that appears two or three times in his guitar solo as if reaching for attention. His chops alone will accomplish that. “I Don’t Want Your Love” finds him accompanied by an organ and a thumping bass line with his jagged guitar solo evoking a hill country vibe. MIscho joins on chromatic harp for the funky, frenetic instrumental “Skurley” with Goldwasser slashing on slide. It’s Goldwasser playing both the acoustic guitar and harp on the back porch “What Am I to Do?” Give Goldwasser credit for mixing up the styles in these first four.

The stomping “Diskum Baab Uleh Shun” features Mischo again as the leader courses through an array of guitar styles from swing to surf and a fuzzed out grunge while drummer Morgan’s insistent beats deliver a relentless stomping vibe that continues in the gritty “Had a Dream Last Night,” where he envisions U.S. political figures being kicked out of office, as Mischo joins for the third and final time. “Paris Woman” is a chugging boogie while another instrumental, “Sobby Doggy Boogy” displays his skills on lap steel. Invariably, the highlight is the title track featuring Rayford’s soulful vocals, Musselwhite’s distorted harp and the searing twin guitars of Fletcher and Goldwasser.

“Monkey Junk” features jungle rhythms and a trance-like accompaniment to spoken word. It’s a weird one – Goldwasser may be trying too hard to vary the mix here. “If Could Holler” is a more conventional “in the pocket” blues with Goldwasser accompanying himself again on guitar and harp. “Dumb & Dangerous” is a reworked version of “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” with Goldwasser on resonator with maracas-like percussion. The stretched out “Sweet Cream” is the primitive, raw sound of amped up hill country blues with Morgan’s vigorous kit work supporting the leader who also weighs in with harp to take it out. Goldwasser reveals more stellar picking on the brief “Raggmazazz.” Finally, the bonus live track “Bleedin’ Heart,” is a smoldering slow blues with Goldwasser reaching deep and holding nothing back.

Goldwasser is a skilled guitarist and that’s the draw here. The songs and the vocals are pretty standard and less distinctive but the variety in the mix and the especially impressive guitar work has more than its share of thrilling moments.

Jim Hynes

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