You Gotta Want It

The latest recording from the Nighthawks, All You Gotta Do, is about as close to perfection as you would want from a blues and American roots band. Of course those terms and descriptions, blues rock, soul blues, roots rock, roots music, Americana, hadn t even been coined yet when this band started mixing it all up. And created their own magic gumbo of rock and roll. Inspired and encouraged by their hero s and mentors, that created the genres, they learned the language and feel of this great music. And that s what makes the difference. Founding member Mark Wenner has always had a sound he was after. From the deep blues of Muddy Waters, early rock & roll of Elvis and Buddy with some great four part harmonies was the formula. He has the band now that can do just that and more.

A mixture of mostly R&B and soft jazz combined with a taste of drum programming, synths, flutes, trumpets and sax. I dunno…maybe it takes more than one listen to really get the feel of what these Blackbyrds are trying to put across. I'll tell you this much, it's not the Blackbyrd music from their funky fusion days. If the name Incognito was slapped on the front of this CD it would be a distinct improvement. After listening to the CD I was really disappointed. Not one cut on it made me want to get up and groove except "No Stopping", an Incognito tune if ever I heard one. Drum programmed front to finish, synth-laden lead and accompanied by more synthetics, yet it's the best track on this mediocre effort. I was expecting so much more from the Blackbyrds as it's been decades since they've produced a studio album. This lackluster release really wasn't worth the effort.