The Motor City has produced many fine guitar slingers over the years. Howard Glazer is certainly among them. If you like your blues pushed to the boundaries of rock-n-roll and beyond you need to give his new self-released CD a listen. This one is titled Liquor Store Legend.

Glazer runs the gamut on the guitars featuring electric, acoustic, resonator and a lap steel to compliment his vocals. You will notice a definitely Bob Dylan influence in his vocal style. His band mates are Bob Godwin on bass and Charles Stuart on drums.

The music is hot, the recordings well done and the result is a fine, fine product. A long list of guest musicians adds to the excitement. The collection has thirteen songs all of which are Glazer originals.

Wolfgang Spider

The CD "Brown Paper Bag" by Howard Glazer and El 34s was released in January 2005. All thirteen songs are written by Howard Glazer. Three songs have an acoustic implementation, and ten songs have an electric blues-rock feel. The song "Full Moon Blues" is sung by Howard Glazer himself and played on a resonator (dobro) acoustic guitar.This song is played with enormous conviction and feeling. In spite of the fact that the song takes over five minutes, it holds my complete attention. The guitar, in general, sounds splendid. The bass player gets some space on "Mean Hearted Woman" and we are able to hear how he employs a full, round sound. Any bassist that wants a similar sound should definitely listen to that song for a lesson on good technique. Hats off to the drummer, too, who shows us how it's gotta be done with a snare. Very nice! The slow blues, "The Dogs They Bark At Midnight" (9:19 minutes), has a deliciously swampy sound with the wah-wah pedal playing a prominent role. In this song Howard teases us with great dynamics. The same can be said for the slow blues "Sad Situation". The most up-tempo song is "Going To Chicago".

Included with the CD "Brown Paper Bag" was another CD, "Patriot Act Blues: Howard Glazer Rocks Against the Right", protesting: "White House Boys Tell US So Many Lies". On the CD "Brown Paper Bag" the song is more like spoken verse, so it is really the guitar that is important here. This is a blues-rock CD with traditional blues diagrams and no real surprises. But the guitar solos show good improvisation and saucy experimentation.

Chris Janssen

Howard presents us with a stark, sparse, melancholy solo guitar and vocal piece which questions and laments the moral validity of the American Patriot Act. His concerns are for the apparent erosion of civil liberties, which enable a persons freedom of speech and the right of one to choose. Also the perceived far right tendencies of the American Government, which appear to be recalling the fanaticism of the McCarthy era and a Jim Crow mentality. His concerns are equally fearfully stated on the number of increasing deaths of the soldiers in Iraq, which seem to match the ever increasing profits made from the sale of arms in the present conflict.

A mournful blues, a mournful situation not helped by fear and ignorance. A song with a message which we should perhaps listen to and contemplate!

Brian Harman

Detroit guitarist Howard Glazer has been praised by some critics and reviled by others for his assertive playing on Harmonica Shah's Bluetrack and Electro-Fi CDs.

With bassist Bob Godwin and drummer Charles Stuart providing the power-trio foundation, Glazer steps to the forefront here on 13 originals on which he employs slide and wah-wah effects to vary the instrumental work. Two tracks, "Radioactive Woman" and "Full Moon Blues" are unplugged, and backing vocals are added to two other selections. As a singer, Glazer's gruff voice is pretty limited, but fans of Johnny Winter and Kim Simmonds (both of whom he sites as influences, along with Muddy Waters) should fine much to savor here.

Jim DeKoster

Guitarist Howard Glazer is best known over here for his work with Harmonica Shah, but when you see that of the three blues names he nods to for inspiration, two (Johnny Winter, Kim Simmonds) are white rockers, you know you're headed for the rowdy side of town. Nevertheless his playing on Brown Paper Bag is not unsubtle depite its muscularity and the accoompainment of his rhythm section, the EL 34s isn't bad either. He's no great shakes as a singer, but he reminded me of Tom Petty occasionally, so things could be worse. In any event it's the guitar fans that will lap this one up.

Paul Lewis

Best known until recently as guitarist with the great Harmonica Shah Band, Howard Glazer is an electric guitarist in the mold of Kim Simmonds, Johnny Winter and the bluesy side of Hendrix. Blues rock might be the fitting phrase for the work at hand, though the blues influences are unquestionably in control here. The opening title piece, on which Glazer sings about being booted out of the house with what little he had coming in ("she took all my clothes and she put 'em in a brown paper bag"), showcases his brilliant guitar work. These are unquestionably the licks of a contender. On "Cold, Sad and Lonely" ("The blues is like bad weather/there ain't nothing you can change"), the guitar work reflects the title with SRV style medium tempo balladry. He switches to stellar slide work on "Steamrollin' Baby," whips out the Hendrixian wah wah for "Going To Chicago," with fellow Detroiter Maggie McCabe adding delicious vocals, and pulls out all the stops on "Sad Situation," a Buddy Guy-style guitar tour de force.

On "Don't Love You No More," he's joined by vocalists Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson on a hook laden medium tempo piece that recalls Delaney and Bonnie at times. "Mean Hearted Woman" is a hard core Detroit blues shuffle that tells the story of a woman who's "mean in the day and mean all night long." Glazer's guitar work here is first rate. On "The Dogs They Bark At Midnight" the guitar work again recalls Hendrix at his bluesy best. Glazer has a raspy expressive voice that sometimes is at odds with the guitar work, though just as often fits perfectly (as here), though his guitar work is never less than jaw-droppingly superb. "Smokin' and Drinkin' " ("every day and night/got to twist one up to feel alright"), a partying song that benefits from the aforementioned gal singers, is a crowd favorite, though I prefer the serious musicianship of the closing sketch entitled "Freedom." Bassist Bob Godwin and drummer Charles Stuart are the foundation over which Glazer performs his guitar magic and their in-the-pocket accompaniment throughout makes this one of the best blues trios to come down the road in years.

Mark E. Gallo

Howard is a born and bred Detroit 'Motorcity' man, who after spending some time experiencing the delights of Chicago returned to Detroit and subsequently went on to tour successfully worldwide for six years as one half of a highly acclaimed duo, the other half being 'Harmonica Shah,' since then Howard has decided to become his own man after the 'musical differences' between them caused a permanent split. Having formed the EL34's with Bob Goodwin on bass and Charles Stuart on drums, Howard completes the trio with electric and acoustic guitars and of course his eloquently delivered, soft, slightly hoarse voice.

The band, I believe, have achieved the tricky (some might say the impossible) balance of merging rock with blues without losing sight (and sound) of the subtle nuances required of deftly played blues guitar.

All thirteen of the numbers are Howard and the band originals: the two longest numbers "Sad Situation," lasting seven minutes and seven seconds and "The Dogs They Bark at Midnight," which at nine minutes and nineteen seconds, seem to finish all too quickly as one is compulsively drawn and immersed into the mixture of hard biting riffs and delicate soul touching picking complemented with hair straightening slide guitar.

Special guest vocalists Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson give fine support on "Going to Chicago," "Don't Love You No More," and "Smokin' and Drinkin'." There is a hint of a wilder side to this band with the (I presume) Hendrix influenced "Freedom," which lasts a mere one minute and forty six seconds.

A very enjoyable album, I thoroughly recommend it!

Brian Harman

The bad news is that the dynamic Detroit duo of Harmonica Shah and Howard Glazer--a collaboration that produced the widely acclaimed Deep Detroit, and Tell It To Your Landlord--have gone their separate ways. The good news is that Glazer, unshackled from having to play second-fiddle as a guitarist to Shah, is free on Brown Paper Bag to put the pedal to the metal and open it up full throttle to deliver some high-octane, hard-driving blues--tempered with a couple of soulful acoustic cuts--that present a snapshot of contemporary Motor City blues.

Glazer is one of the best of the new-breed of blues-rock guitarists, often compared to a young Buddy Guy. His guitar work, which is as tough as tool steel coated with a triple layer of hard chrome, has earned him two Detroit Metro Times music awards: Best Guitarist and Musician Deserving Wider Recognition He is also a gifted songwriter as is shown on the all original material album, which Glazer said in e-mail correspondence with The Daily Yomiuri was the reason behind the divorce. "Shah didn't want me doing any of my original material," Glazer said. "These are songs that I've been wanting to do for quite some time. This is how I really sound," he added, saying he felt really at home performing his own material with Bob Godwin on bass and Charles Stuart on drums, known collectively as the EL 34s. (Which, for trivia fans, is the name of a vacuum tube used in some of the best-sounding guitar tube amps.)

In addition to laying down some industrial-strength electric guitar work that is as graceful as it is muscular, Glazer plays some mean acoustic slide on "Steamrollin' Baby" and "Full Moon Blues," and for an interesting reason: "The two acoustic slide songs were recorded after I burnt my finger really bad and went on the road in Eastern Europe for a month last November. It hurt really bad so I decided to record some slide stuff," Glazer explained. The pace on the album is nicely varied by the guest appearance of fellow Detroiter Maggie McCabe on "Going To Chicago." Her voice provides a perfect contrast to Glazer's on this track, which is semiautobiographical in that Glazer spent a couple of years in the Windy City honing his blues skills before returning home.With the EL 34s, Glazer expounds on the basic blues-rock mix, taking it to a higher level while maintaining the integrity of the blues and proving that good things come in a Brown Paper Bag.

Les Coles

Howard Glazer's simple explaination for the high number of musicains who jump the blues train after countless years squandered in the music business? "Blues is basically the roots of American Music," the Detroit guitarist says. "It's the foudation of many styles and a lot of people just get drawn back to those roots." Coming from a dude who played his first bar show at 13 before snaking through various rock, jazz, and punk combos, his words carry weight. The Rip Van Winkle -Coiffed Glazer started seriously getting into the blues in the late 80's, which led to a worldwide touring stint with Harmonica Shah. From there he began recording his own songs, hence his group the EL 34s. Glazer's guitar turns draw frequent comparisions to Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter, though he's quick to point out, "I don't really sound like them, though they are definite influences. The group actually kicks it along the lines of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble; the rhythm section provides a suprisingly substantial backdrop for Glazer's heady soloing, resulting in an accessible sound that's all electric blues. It may have taken Howard 30 years to find the blues, but he plays as if he was there since birth.

Gary Blackwell

Hot of the press is Howard Glazer and the EL 34s new one Brown Paper Bag on the Random Chance Records label. Glazer has been working with Harmonica Shah for a number of years and has decided to release some of his personal compositions. There are thirteen solid blues tracks on this album. Twelve are Glazer originals and he coauthored the other one. The other EL 34 bandmates are Bob Godwin (bass) and Charles Stuart (drums). Glazer shows his prowess on acoustic and electric guitar and lays down some serious vocal tracks to match. The CD is scheduled for release on April 16 at the Dive in Dearborn.

Wolfgang Spider

Brown Paper Bag could have been called School of Blues the way Howard Glazer has spent the past 30 years accumulating knowledge and skills enough to take the music to new heights. On top of his game with a new break-through CD on the big Apple-based Random Chance label, Glazer is solid body luminary in his own right and a National Standard steel side guitar king when performing on acoustic slide. It's virtuosity from start to finish. Over time, this well-schooled, six-string marksman has learned how to zero in on chops known only to the music's Holy Grail, having set his sights on cats like Hubert Sumlin, the early Buddy Guy and the early Johnny Winter, as well as Detroit rocker Fred "Sonic" Smith for those take-no-prisoner moments. This is electric blues that rocks when it wants to, but also knows the value of restraint and when to ease up a bit. It's that full range of dynamics that seals the deal for Brown Paper Bag. When he was taking former partner and fellow Detroiter Harmonica Shah out of his back alley obscurity and onto the world stage for the past six years, there must have been something very deep percolating inside Howard Glazer's musical soul. It had to come out sooner or later. Even earlier there were hints that something bigger for him was on the horizon. It showed in Glazer's live performances even before he formalized his new three-piece unit (to call it a power trio does not do it justice).

The EL34s are named after a vacuum tube of immense importance to the way an electric guitar plays off an amplifier. Glazer used a Mesa Boogie "class A" and an old Silvertone in the studio on this recording. Tube provided the '50s ears technology needed to snarl, growl and rip it up. Underscoring the idea of sonic texture, Glazer prefers the fuller sound of a Gibson electric and sports four Firebirds, and SG and a Les Paul for electric slide work. All 13 tunes are Glazer originals (with "Freedom," track 13, authored by all three EL 34s). Long-time sidemen Bob Godwin (bass) and Charles Stuart (drums) round out this tubular trio. Glazer's blues noir vocals have grit, a forlorn diffidence and a rock bottom end-of-the-line sense of desolation. Occasional she-backers add majesty to the mix (Maggie McCabe shine on "Going to Chicago," and is joined by Stephanie Johnson on "Don't Love You No More" and "Smokin' and Drinkin'" adding some superb backup harmonies). The title track allows the Glaze man to prove that he may be the only pickup pounder around that does justice to the albino from Beaumont, "Steamrollin' Baby," "Radioactive Woman" and "Full Moon Blues" show that HG is a true Renaissance man when it come to acoustic slide. Add the juice and Lowell George's Little Feat would be proud.

George P. Seedorff

The beauty of a blues trio is that it allows the guitar player to shine, unencumbered by excessive instrumentation. Detroit-area guitarist Howard Glazer utilizes the format to show off his considerable and varied talents on his debut CD. Glazer starts out houserockin' with the title tune and soon shows his versatility, with style ranging from moody ("Cold Sad and Lonely," "Sad Situation") and acoustic Delta (Steamrollin' Baby," "Full Moon Blues") to Hendrix-style slow blues ("The Dogs They Bark at Midnight").A definite standout is "Don't Love You No More" a country flavored track showcasing Glazer's swingin' slide guitar work. Glazer has toured the world with former collaborator and fellow Detroiter Harmonica Shah, but "Brown Paper Bag" is Glazer's show, with only drummer Charles Stuart and bassist Bob Godwin providing accompaniment, with occasional assistance on vocals by Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson. Glazer wrote all 13 tunes (with help form Godwin and Stuart on one song.) but the strength of this recording is in it execution, not the songwriting, as he gets the most out of his gravelly but expressive voice and lets the guitar take center stage. They say good things come in small packages. Glaze proves that they also come in a "Brown Paper Bag."

Joe Ballor

Howard Glazer and the EL 34s performed to a packed house at the Dive Bar in Dearborn. Joining Glazer on stage were band mates Bob Godwin (bass) and Charles Stuart (drums). Stephanie Johnson sang background vocals as she does on Glazer's new CD Brown Paper Bag. Maggie McCabe appears on the CD as well. Glazer was at his finest playing original songs from the new album. The crowd showed their appreciation by packing the dance floor and purchasing the new CD. Godwin was more animated then usual responding to the crowd's chant "go Bob." Stuart was fantastic and his drum solo rocked the house. Don't miss the official release party at the Dive on April 16th. If the crowd this evening was any indication it looks as though Howard Glazer and the EL 34s have a big hit with the new CD.

Pam Adams

Detroit-based blues guitarist and vocalist leads his new group, The EL 34s, on this recording session. He has recorded and toured extensively with Harmonica Shah previous to forming his current band. The 13 original tracks on this CD feature Glazer's blazing guitar. While conversant with the basics of traditional blues, he rocks in the tradition of Johnny Winter -- his style can appeal to a rock listening audience as well as blues audience. Joining Glazer is Bob Goodwin on electric bass, Charles Stuart drums and back-up vocals are provided by Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson.

 

The man from Dearborn, MI with the long flowing hair and blazing guitar rifts has stepped back onto the center stage. First up, a little background. After many years in supporting roles on five CDs, four LPs and other projects including his own LP, Howard Glazer joined forces with Detroit blues man Harmonica Shah. That led to several tours to Japan and Europe and the release of two CDs. This partnership brought worldwide acclaim to both men. Then recently, as the blues world likes to say, they reached a crossroads. Glazer and Shah split and went their separate ways. With Glazer it meant a chance to explore his personal music and compositions.

These days you will find him appearing as Howard Glazer and the EL 34s. With the brief history out of the way we turn to April 16th at the Dive in Dearborn, MI and the smashing party for the release of the new CD Brown Paper Bag on New York's Random Chance Records label. The club was packed with fans and musicians. Bob Godwin on bass and Charles Stuart on drums complete the lineup for this power blues trio. Glazer's guitar renditions lean heavily towards the incendiary side of things but he can easily shift into a moody blues number as well. His vocals have an eerie andinspiring quality about them. The album has thirteen tracks, all originals. Some relate to Glazer life experiences. His song Going To Chicago laments his several years there before returning to the Motor City. Special guests Stephanie Johnson and Maggie McCabe provide stirring vocal backups on several numbers. Howard Glazer and the EL 34s have a well performed and produced CD and one can expect great things from this trio in the future.

Wolfgang Spider

Howard Glazer hails from Detroit and honed his chops in Chicago and further afield whilst working for several years as featured guitarist for Harmonica Shah. "Brown Paper Bag" is Howard Glazer and The EL34s debut album release by Random Chance Records and offers 13 original tracks. What is an EL34 ? An EL34 is a type of vacuum tube (valve) commonly used in musical instrument amplification hardware. Howard's EL34s however, are Bob Godwin (bass) and Charles Stuart (drums) who underpin HG's every lick and bend with punch and drive, just like a good rhythm section should. The bottom line is that Howard Glazer and The EL34s are a rock-solid Blues-rock ensemble with the emphasis firmly on Blues.

Judge Jones

Tight blues rock trio from Michigan. Toured Eastern Europe recently and are constantly gigging around local home base (Henry Fords's old hot spot, Dearborn, just out of Detroit). Howard's full throttle sound rests on 3 decades of experience, however it appears he only recently converted to a full on blues sound so he's fresh! Variously described as 'a rawer Buddy Guy', 'a shade of Hound Dog Taylor', 'hints of Johnny Winter', 'kicks in like Stevie Ray Vaughan' . A must hear for devotees of those styles.

LTJ

According to HOWARD AND THE EL34s very own description, the type of music they play is "high energy blues from Detroit City". Trust me when I tell you this, that explanation is not necessary. There is absolutely no one out there that could possibly say their music is anything else. Although the few of these they did were quite excellent, this is not your typical shuffle and ballad blues band.

The EL34s consist of: HOWARD GLAZER on electric guitar, acoustic resonator guitar and vocals; BOB GOODWIN on bass; and CHARLES STUART. Assisting on background vocals are MAGGIE MCCABE and STEPHANIE JOHNSON.

Typically, so called high energy blues bands are rockers in disguise. Most of them lose me with that rock music they call blues. However, one of the things that impressed me with this band is that although they do live up to the high energy moniker, they stay true to the blues genre. It's a good mix and an equally good accomplishment. The closest to the edge that this band came was with a Hendrix-like song called "GOING TO CHICAGO". HOWARD is all over the guitar on this one. However, on the very next track he comes back with one of my favorite songs on the CD, "SAD SITUATION". This is my kind of blues. On this track, Howard puts his heart and soul into the vocals as well as into the guitar. These two extremely different songs are a lesson in versatility.

On the title track, "BROWN PAPER BAG" HOWARD'S slide playing gets put on display. It sounds as if he's sliding over the strings and bending them all in the same motion. This is a hot one. There's lots more good slide on what I call the 'dance song' of the CD, "DON'T LOVE YOU NO MORE". The slight country swing to it made it a real mover, while the ladies on background made it a good one to sing along with. "MEAN HEARTED WOMAN" captures the band in jam mode, a tight jam mode at that. Musically, this is the cream of the crop of this CD's thirteen tracks. Bass and drum solos, along with solid play throughout this, put the rhythm sections talent on display.

Some of the best true blues guitar on "BROWN PAPER BAG" can be heard on "THE DOGS THEY BARK AT MIDNIGHT". Howard tears it up badly on this track. With all the bending and twisting he does on this one, when he was done the strings on his guitar had to look like Raggedy Ann's hair on a humid day. PHEW! By far the best song on this CD. The fact that all thirteen songs are HOWARD GLAZER originals deserves mention. It's so common these days, especially on a debut CD, for a band to mix in a few covers - more often than not, over done covers. From the pen to the play list, this was a nicely done project.

Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro

Brown Paper Bag marks a personal highpoint in Howard Glazer's storied musical career - a full-length album consisting of self-penned material. The son of a pair of musicians, the local bluesman picked up the trumpet as a child, and played his first bar gig as part of a backing band when he was only 13 years old. From there, Glazer bounced between a series of punk, rock and jazz bands, finally settling down as a member of locally based, international touring act Harmonica Shah in the 90's.

Eventually, Glazer got the itch to write and record his own material, so he split the Shah and pulled together a rhythm section dubbed the El 34s (after a power tube used in Marshall amps). While Glazer cites Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter as his main guitar influences, Brown Paper Bag feels like a Detroit Rock City interpretation of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble (pre-rehab, thanks to the various references to whiskey and the wacky weed). As far as the Vaughn comparisons go, Glazer doesn't whip out lightning-quick jangle licks or throaty vocal wails. Still, the overall Double Trouble vibe oozes from the band courtesy of Bob Godwin's deep, rolling basslines and Charles Stuart's restrained drumming. The swanky "Going to Chicago" and the swinging title track are great showcases of the rhythm section's prowess, though all of Godwin and Stuart's performances are h1 and sound effortless. Much like SRV, Glazer's not afraid to show off his lead guitar chops - dragged out solo-laden bluesers "Sad Situation" and "The Dogs They Bark at Midnight" are fine evidence of that fact. Vocally, the man's not a singer as much as he is a rough talker, which adds a fog of bar-smoke-and-drinking-done-fueled-my-blues to the slower tunes (*ahem* - "Smokin' and Drinkin'," anyone?). Admittedly, the upbeat songs suffer a bit for the vocal maladies, but it seems that Glazer himself would be the first person to point out that Brown Paper Bag is structured to highlight sentiment and the band above everything else.

All in all, Glazer's got an enjoyable power groove going here. While there is an obvious blues influence over the album, Brown Paper Bag will probably sit best with a rock audience (a la, the styles of SRV and Jimi Hendrix).

Gary Blackwell