Armand and Bluesology
"Too Much Is Just Enough"
New Moon Records

By John Nevola, Guitarist
Voodooballet@hotmail.com.

It was with delight that I listened to Bob Putignano's show on FDU.FM and heard a few cuts from Armand & Bluesology's new album, "Too Much I Just Enough." Last night I saw his live performance in New York's Red Lion, and today listened to the album.

Here's the scoop:

Armand is an excellent guitarist. He plays fluidly and obviously enjoys the happy blues he performs. His singing is also good, at times sounding a bit like Eric Clapton. If you're a guitarist, or studying to become one, listening to Armand, one can hear what a musician can do when he has virtually complete control of the instrument.

Listening to the first song on the album, "Too Much," the music takes off fast and one begins having a rocking good time. The edgy sound of the Guitar Boogie Shuffle-riff is contagious, infectious and will get any crowd to it's feet.

The songs glide along with Armand at times sounding even a bit like Johnny Lang. He plays many familiar blues breaks and giving us everything he's got.

The third song, "A Dog and His Bone", (I like the names of these songs.) has a familiar Clapton like groove with Armand, as usual exhibiting his smooth ability to play fluid blues. It keeps one's toes tapping.

Later, a song called "Personal Manager" incorporates the use of background singers, which work well to keep us moving. In this song we hear Armand truly playing and singing the blues. He's good. Good voice. Good guitar. Armand might consider adding a keyboard or even horn solo somewhere in this song. This is one of my favorites, as it is solid basic blues.

The album starts to soar with Song Number 8, "There She Is." THIS is a nice solid groove, which keeps you moving along. Armand's singing and use of his guitar accompaniment is interesting and really grooves. Armand is playing all the right stuff.

Number 8, "There She Is," is a Mustang Sally like thing, which makes it very difficult to sit still. If you've ever danced West Coast Swing at The San Francisco West Coast Swing club, you know that this dance isn't only country and western. "There She Is" is perfect groovy dance music! It is GOOOOOD. Nice Guitar work.

One of the two best songs on the Album is Song number 12 called "Missing The Whole Point," in which Armand plays and sings alone. It is infectious, and shows Armand singing real blues, which is what he does best. Vocal and guitar interface is splendid.

Cut number 13 called New Kakalaky Blues introduced a little funk and immediately put a smile on my face. I said, "I didn't know he could play like that". Here, the addition of the second guitarist, Larry Baeder, gives Armand's music the versatility it needs. This song is my favorite.

With the last song, "Come Back Baby", we hear Armand rockin'. I particularly enjoyed the keyboard solo added to this mix. This really helped to keep this song interesting.

Overall, "Too Much Is Just Enoug"h is a good album. The first half at times is a little predictable, but it gets better. The part that really shines is Armand playing guitar. He's very good. In many cases he seems to outshine the rest of the band, and on his next album he might consider using the other musicians more creatively.

Brilliant, No. Good, Yes. One thing is for sure. Armand can play.

PLAY dat Guitar Armand!