mick kidd
Reviewed by Christian Oliver
Published: 1 July 2010
lp: these old shoes
This is a collection of blues focused, rootsy songs written, composed and performed by Mick Kidd, who in a Prince-like effort has not only sung, but played all guitars, bass, and percussion. Impressive to say the least. This album is the perfect accompaniment to a lazy Sunday afternoon; it’s not challenging on the ear and doesn’t try to achieve too much. Herein lies its success. These Old Shoes is what it is - a man with soul doing what he does best, singing the blues.
The album kicks off with ‘Big City Blues’, one of the highlights of the release. Everything feels right about this track, it cruises along invoking imagery of a wandering minstrel feeling out of place in the cluster of modern metropolis. This is followed by ‘(These) Murray Waters Keep On Flowin?', a heartfelt blues track with a dirty Hendrix influenced guitar lick that sets the tone. One of the standout features of this song is the lyrical content. It’s so refreshing to hear a song with Australian subject matter. As Mick croons that the "Murray waters keep on flowin' and rollin' right through his veins", you don’t doubt him for a second.
Certainly one of the strengths within this album lays in the ability of Mick Kidd to get his musical message across to the listener through his guitar playing. This is highlighted best on the aptly named song; ‘Front Bar Guitar’ which demonstrates off all of Mick’s skills. An instrumental track, here he gets to display his solo chops and doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. He knows when to build, he knows when to hold and he certainly knows how to extract the blues from of his guitar. This song leads into a slight change of direction in the album, with the rocking and rolling ‘Hell's Kitchen’ popping up and demanding the listener to tap their foot to the beat. This song can best be described as irrepressible. It’s insistently catchy, breezy and just a lot of fun.
The title track of the album ‘These Old Shoes’ (a pair of old blunstones if we are to believe the cover art work) requests the listener to take a "walk in these old shoes cos you’ve got nothing to lose". Not quite Bob Dylan, but gets his message across regardless. The final track of the album ‘My Time’ has a sentimental quality to it and is the perfect ending to this release. As Kidd croons in this track that “It’s my time to grow old, the next generation is about to unfold” you know he still has plenty to offer, and the younger generation of singer songwriters could learn a lot from his musicality, song writing ability and sincerity of performance.
