‘Blues News’ Norway irresistible “Breaking and Entering” #MusicMonday review

Blues News Norway writes up a good one. Thank You

 “You can’t fake an orgasm for real, as you can’t fake singing like this. “

Here’s the Translation:

“A light rough album for sure, but what the hell: what a voice Eliza Neals possesses! It feels like Tim Scott mcConnell (alias Ledfoot) during his exile in Norway with heavy acoustic torment, and a young Beth Hart that almost pours her guts on a late night party casted in the name of Janis Joplin. If you listen to “Breaking and entering” I will be surprised if you don’t sense the raw Joplin-thing, and get floored by doing so. You can’t fake an orgasm for real, as you can’t fake singing like this. 

Eliza Neals has obviously her head dipped in the chambers of the rawest known futures of soul and blues, and opens her self-released albums with a stompy Clarkesdale bluesfeeling close to connoisseurs of our own Rita Engedalen. Just a bit rawer and with a vulgar touch, but not far away from Ritas first love in Jessie Mae Hemphill from Clarksdale after all.

And Eliza has obviously more roads to go down than just as a soul/blues singer. There are strong attempts for power-rock, with an r&b nerve to it, that Sheryl Crow might envy her on songs like “Jekyll and a Hound” and the corresponding “You”. The first mentioned seems like a hit song to me. Many listeners will also find it very appealing to find the rock-nerves of a young Beth Hart on songs like “Goo goo glass”, or the bluesrock-outfit of a later Cyndi Lauper making a run for it at “Southern comfort dreams”.

For those of you that won’t go to the bin of regular and traditional blues or soul music, then this package of the rock-energized Eliza Neals may be just as irresistebly as often is when you find a talent that could become your new favourite artist. This record is for me as uneven as it gets, but there are too many impressive vocal punches and too much “we’re not gonna hold back” -intentions to stay away. A song like “Windshield wipers” really would deserve becoming a hit in the old school of rock’n roll!

So there you are! Too much quality, too much attityde, and too many good songs inbetween the ones you might wanna skip. You can’t turn your back to a record like this. Maybe it don’t deserves the near top “roll of the dice”, but in this case it’s important to raise the flag. And tell what Eliza Neals are about!

 Blues News Magazine/ Johnny Andreassen