The David Landon Band - This Time - Whip Records 2009

The David Landon Band is a quartet of highly talented and road tested Blues musicians that come together to form something entirely awesome. To put it in terms of a pop culture reference, if The David Landon Band were a character from Transformers, they would be Devastator: dangerous in it's individual parts, but it's power is ultimately felt when assembled as one.

All of This Time's dozen tracks are written and composed by Landon, including the album's two instrumental numbers ("Log Jam" and "Ducks In A Row," which ironically enough features a fair amount of 'chicken pickin'.)

It kicks off with "The Biggest Fool," featuring Landon coming on strong with the guitar, and Tony Stead knocking the Hammond B3 out of the ballpark. The tune is a very strong opener and sets the tone for what unfolds as a very solid offering.

Landon's songwriting is very catchy. I found myself singing along with the lyrics after only having listened to the CD a couple times. The subject matter is identifiable, and the overwhelming majority of the songs deal with The Blues' favorite topic: woman troubles.

This Time runs a little over an hour, and most of the songs run between four and five minutes, with a few stretching more than seven minutes in length, and a couple being shorter than that four minute threshold. I only pose the topic to set up my feeling that the songs don't seem too long or short. They all have their own feel, and you don't find yourself looking to see how long a song has gone on, thinking "man, I thought this would be over by now." That doesn't happen.

Case in point, my favorite track on the CD is "Who's Lovin' You?" an eight-and-a-half minute Slow Blues that never feels like it's run on longer than it should have.

"Say Goodbye" features guest saxophone work from Charles McNeal. The saxophone work compliments this band very nicely, and ratchets the track up yet another level. I would be interested to see what kind of depth McNeal's sax would give to some of the other songs on This Time.

Although there is a couple seconds that go by between the two tracks, "Log Jam" sounds like it turns into "One Hundred Years." I caught myself actually thinking that's what happened during one listen, and really liked how it was all laid out. Maybe it was intentional. "One Hundred Years" features some great piano work, by the way.

"I'm Gonna Quit You" is another Slow Blues clocking in around the eight-and-a-half minute mark. Another cool tune with some excellent work on the frets by Landon. I also really dug the track's follow-up, "A Man's Gotta Be A Man."

It's "A Man's Gotta Be A Man" and "You've Done Nothing Wrong" where The David Landon Band really rock out on the disc. Randy Hayes beats his drum kit into submission on these two songs.

This Time wraps up with the title cut, and "Goodbye My Friend." (The song) "This Time" kind of brings it all back together, incorporating some more piano, a larger background vocal section, and a really nice kind of call and response with the backing vocals. "Goodbye My Friend," is a song that laments what may be awaiting on the other side, and features piano from John Rosenberg and Landon on acoustic guitar.

The David Landon Band and This Time are both best described as smooth. Everything is smooth here: the playing, the song transitions, Landon's vocals. That's definitely how I would sum it all up in one word.

David Landon, Randy Hayes (drums), Steve Evans (bass), and Stead are a solid unit, working well off of one another. This Time's liner notes describe how they set out to capture the sound of their live show "on tape," and I can tell you that their energy and enthusiasm for their music translates onto the record. Well Done.

Standout Tracks: "Who's Lovin' You?" "Say Goodbye," and "A Man's Gotta Be A Man"

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