Jukin' Bone - Way Down East (1972/2022)

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Jukin' Bone - Way Down East (1972/2022)

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The second and final album by these upstate New York blues-rockers was more polished than their live-in-the-studio, occasionally drunk debut, Whiskey Woman, but that's actually to the music's detriment. While the band can definitely play, laying biting slide guitar over a funky bass groove on "Nightcrawler," and howling out a roaring lust anthem on "Cara Lynn," they really don't benefit from too much slickness. Like Cactus or Black Oak Arkansas, they were best when they tore it up in down 'n' dirty fashion, as Whiskey Woman amply demonstrated. The addition of electric piano helps a little on the swampy, Creedence-ish "Mojo Conqueroo," and they whip up a hot 'n' nasty, shoutalong version of "See See Rider" that's not quite as deranged-sounding as their take on Roy Orbison's "Candy Man" from their debut, but it's pretty raucous. But by the time the acoustic "Yes Is Yes" comes along, the band's limitations are apparent. Recommended to absolute die-hard '70s hard rock cultists; everyone else can get by just listening to Free, Humble Pie, Cactus, and Black Oak Arkansas.

by Phil Freeman, allmusic