Howard Glazer and the El 34s' latest release, Wired For Sound (Blue Skunk Music), is a sizzling set of high-energy electric blues in the tradition of Glazer's previous efforts. Glazer has performed nationally and internationally, performing in festivals around the world. He's played with numerous blues legends, including Johnny Winter, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, B. B. King, and Savoy Brown and is regarded as one of Detroit's finest guitarists.

Glazer doesn't play cookie-cutter blues by any means. He's apt to mix his crunching electric blues/rock with a full horn section, The opening cut, "Touch My Heart," features Glazer on searing slide guitar and also crunching out the meanest riffs this side of Buddy Guy before it concludes. "Happy In My Arms" is more of an R&B track with the horn section and chick singers, while "Living On The Edge" has a swampy, atmospheric feel. "Detroit Blues Party" is a hot party track that features the legendary David "Honeyboy" Edwards, and Detroit musicians Emanuel Young and Lady T…..and that's just the first four tracks!

Other standout tracks include the slow burner, "Hurts So Badly," with some exquisite guitar work from Glazer, the manic "Waiting For That Train," the country blues "I Got A Good Girl" and the rocker, " Get Me Out of Here," both of which feature different facets of Glazer's slide guitar. Just when you think you've heard it all, here comes "Reel Me In," with funky wah-wah guitar and that tight horn section. The disc closes with a reprise of "Detroit Blues Party," where blues poet John Sinclair joins the fun and the band really gets to stretch out. Sinclair also appears on the track, "Goodbye."

Wired For Sound is a dynamite CD that has something for every discerning blues fan. Howard Glazer is an amazing versatile guitarist and takes on multiple blues styles on this set, handling all of them with ease. Anybody who can fit all of these styles on one CD (not to mention Honeyboy Edwards, Lady T, and John Sinclair on the same track) without it sounding like a jumbled mess should be required listening.

Graham Clarke

Howard Glazer and the EL 34’s latest release is a Detroit Blues Party distributed by Blue Skunk Music. Howard and his brother Steve produce the 14 Tracks. All were composed by Howard except Detroit Blues Party and Goodbye which are credited to John Sinclair.

This CD jumps right off with a Blackfoot sound and slide that would make Duane Allman smile. “Touch My Heart” ends with a cool click/clack fade. “Happy in My Arms” introduces the horn section of; Ralph Koziarski (sax), Dave Kocbus (trumpet) and Mike Dziekan (trombone). The background vocals of Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson augment the Motown groove. They could go All Night Long! “Living on the Edge” has a Credence Clearwater sound. The 1st round of “Detroit Blues Party” is cool with party sounds (glasses clinking) in the background. David “Honeyboy” Edwards plays amplified acoustic and Lady T shows off her fine “pipes”. “Hurt so Bad” reminds of Albert Collins with added effects. “Waiting for the Train” rolls through with jaunty slide resonator and a Johnny Cash beat. Steve Kohn is wicked on the skins.

“Wall Street Bailout” is poignant with a back beat that’s hard to master. Foreclosure, unemployment and homelessness with wah wah licks scorching in. Slide resonator taunts “I’ve got a Good Girl” w/drumsticks on the rims and harmonica. Bassist Bob Goodwin is strong throughout this disc and kills here! “Get Me out Of Here” is swampy with a Tommy gun drum that rat-a-tat-tats. “Reel Me In” has funky bass slappin’, shredding in the middle and horns. Kind of like Shaft meets Chicago (the band). “Half Empty” tackles the age old conundrum; half empty or half full. It is acoustic yet spacey with voice effects. A strong Motown beat drives “No Regrets”. There are plenty of bass frenetics and more of Howard shredding. Howard laments: “You can take my body but, you can’t take my soul.”

Drums kick off the Hound Dog Taylor tribute “Goodbye”. John Sinclair recites and Howard wails on slide throughout. There is unique phrasing of slide and trumpet feedback. (Yep, trumpet feedback) The 2nd visit to the “Detroit Blues Party” (reprise) finds the party still going strong. Emanuel Young adds to the Mississippi Fred McDowell sound. It makes you want to go to Detroit and party all night long!

Zeke

Web Site

More bluesrocky as the sound of Howard Glazer is hardly possible. It is bluesrock, but with the emphasis on 'blues'! “Wired For Sound” is the third album of the band, of which all members are in the business quite a long time. Next to Howard Glazer (vocals, guitar) the EL 34's consist of Bob Godwin (bass, harmonica, vocals) and Steve Kohn (drums, vocals) On this cd they are assisted by a hornsection built up by Ralph Koziarski, Dave Kocbus and Mike Dziekan and the backgrondsingers Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson. And special guests as legendary Mississippi bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Detroit blueslegends Emanuel Young (guitar, vocals) en singer Lady T contribute as well.

I already wrote that the emphasis is 'blues' which is evident on the first song “Touch My Heart” and “Happy In My Arms” which sounds Stax-like due to the hornsection. Glazer is not an especially good singer, but he knows how to handle this deficiency and never overloads. He makes up for it as guitarist however. The licks fit well in the Q&A-game of the compositions and the solo parts are exuberant, but always serve the songs.

A few personal highlights follow with “Detroit Blues Party”, in which the band is accompanied by all the guests and they really make a party out of it, the sensitively sung ballad “Hurts So Badley” with stunning guitarsolo, and the trainblues “Waiting For The Train”, where Kohn's drumming pushes the slideguitar.

A couple more gems follow. “Wall Street Bailout”, that begins with menacing screaming guitars and moves on to a threatening boogie with a not less intimidating guitarsolo. “Goodbye” is in fact a poem written by John Sinclair (under the title “Goodbye Hound Dog Taylor”), which has been put on music by Glazer. And how! The dark voice of Sinclair sounds over het guitaristic firework and when the trumpets begin to participate the sky is the limit. Marvellous!

As last song the party is continued as “Detroit Blues Party Reprise”. The strong singing and guitarwork of the 72 uear old Emanuel Young, the vocal contribution of Lady T, the slideguitar of the 96 year old Honeyboy Edwards and the sonorous speaking voice of John Sinclair make this a worthy end of the album.

As conclusion, this is a beautiful and varied cd, with which a beautiful visiting card is presented. Apart from the text of the aforementioned “Goodbye” Howard Glazer has written all songs for this album. And although a comparison with Eric Sardinas or the old Ten Years After can be made, he clearly has his own presence. In short: Recommended!

Howard Glazer doesn't need a pedestal to command our attention or respect. Give him a guitar (or several guitars), give him time to pen the songs, give him a roomful of equally eminent noisemakers and in the end you get an album like Wired for Sound. "Wall Street Bailout" told the truth, "No Regrets" made the truth plain. The songs are charged with a soulful sense of self-knowledge, and even the ones that hint of sadness are refreshingly free of self-pity.

Robert Del Valle

Howard Glazer and the EL 34s (ie, an electron tube that is used in power amps guitar amplifiers) are a dynamic trio Blue (electric guitar, bass, drums) from Detroit. Glazer plays a hot socks. In the trio format in the best moments it sounds as if the British rock legends Cream would be resurrected. For a long time, the sixties have not sounded so fresh. With guests such as the Delta bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards [36] or a brass section of the horizon is occasionally. "Wired for Sound" is varied and full of energy - recommended for all blues-rock fans.

Tom Keller

Origial Language

Howard Glazer & the EL 34slatest CD, Wired For Sound, was finally released. Released by the Detroit label Lazy Brothers Records and distribution around the world by the great Blue Skunk Music's Joe Rutan. We thank you in this part of Europe as we are familiar with these excellent musicians, who have been on the music scene for over twenty years.

The band is composed of Howard Glazer - guitar and vocals, Bob Godwin - harmonica, bass & backing vocals and Steve Kohn - drums and backing vocals with the addition of a brass section, consisting of: Ralph Koziarski-soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax, Dave Kocbus-trumpet and Mike Dziekan-trombone; And background vocals by Maggie McCabe and Stephanie Johnson.

Besides them, this is certainly a real gem of the album in terms of special guests, The legendary, nearly 96-year-old Delta bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards (born June 28, 1915. In the town of Shaw, MS.) and Detroit blues legends Emanuel Young - electric guitar & vocals and Lady T - vocals, which have a special charm to give the album the song Detroit Blues Party. Also included in the project is John Sinclair's narrative poetry (Goodby and Detroit Blues Party). In the end, all together make this album great and somehow really special.

Be sure that this cooperation speak very much about Howard, who was in his hometown and received by a special status. Their work and career, which stretch for more than twenty years and this year at the very beginning was crowned the new edition, Wired For Sound album.

If you know that Howard initially focused on the more acoustic blues this album is a significant step forward in every sense, because from the first to last track from the album Wired For Sound, all literally bursting with energy and full sound. The specific topics to be raced with each shaping the sound with the famous 'Sound Wall'. Inclusion in the current Howard got a new impetus, was perhaps what it means to move the new boundaries of blues, which performed so brilliantly Howard Glazer and the EL34s his.

From track to track there are many better and more attractive musical numbers, and so from the first hurricane song Touch My Heart, through 'full Stax Records sound' in the song Happy In My Arms come up sounding fragmented and syncopated Living On The Edge. Great brass section, excellent rhythm section and above all impressive and hot guitar Howard Glazer will make this album fantastic affordable large number of listeners and fans of the blues. Detroit Blues Party is somehow a key piece of the album because of its guests, David 'Honeyboy' Edwards and John Sinclair with Emanuel Young - electric guitar & vocals and Lady T - Howard vocals and incendiary guitar and pumping rhythm section, you will literally raspametiti. Believe me, every note comes from a true Detroit style 'blues.

The next Hurts So Badly clearly shows what the blues means in its primordial sense. Listening to the album can not help feeling that I was denied a damn, but they never found or heard of this truly great blues musicians.

It is literally impossible to follow, but from day to day to assure, as each day passes by me so many good bands, so many good albums from our many unknown musicians a simple, all this is not possible, nor have any track. It is therefore extremely important that there are people like Joe Rutana, who want to collaborate and work and simply spread the blues. And so we really thank him!

In Croatia, this is the first time that a Howard Glazer & the EL34s and I sincerely hope that this will be the last time, there's really no reason for it. Listening to lively Waiting For The Train, and a strong, emerging Wall Street bailout in me all literally shimmers and looking just yet. Given that Howard Glazer really a lot of gigs at various festivals and tours from America, Japan, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Holland, Greece, England, Germany, Polish, Canada and the Czech Republic hope that we will have the opportunity to listen in Zagreb. I believe that the Croatian audience was like the discovery of equally brilliant Eric Sardinas.

Typical 'break' on the album we have in mind the impressive acoustic / sliderske I Got A Good Girl. To then get instantly filled with boundless serving 'modern' strong blues riffs and infectious rhythms in the song Get Me Out of Here.

I admit that I am extremely fortunate to have such a privileged status and what you can every now and then to introduce albums like this. Wired For Sound is the album that every fan of the blues just wants to have in your collection, and then the every now and then come back and play it. Groovy atmosphere in the topic Reel Me In is a clear indicator of the wide musical aspirations of Howard and his associate musicians. From gentle introduction to even a bit funkyrajucu - groovy theme, it just grows, guitar gives it a strong deadliness to be completed by the impressive sax section and so on. Phenomenal atmosphere and developed a great deal made this song special.

Half Empty is a poem whose form so you may hear a million times, but here's got a highly significant contribution, it is laganica, it was a ballad in which they meet the acoustics and electricity, slowly builds and becomes compact. Excellent packed what we have heard many times and this is its great value, just to give her something. Another undoubted success of the album is the song No Regerts where Howard guitar literally digs trical and all square in front of him. On the dance floor will chase you instrumental Goodbye, I do not know where to evaluate jel 'is a better guitar, which here sliderski jeci, howling and humming or extreme wind stocks in the upper registers. EXCELLENT!

The album is reserved for the Detroit Blues Party (Reprise), where we again for 6 minutes and 38 seconds to get everything we possibly get. The whole team comes back loud blues in all its richness. Acoustic guitar shares the legendary David 'Honeyboy' Edwards, describes the history of music of black America.

RECOMMENDATION: Many will ask, so who is it who were: Howard Glazer & the EL34s, I believe I did not know, but their album Wired For Sound, opened a door that literally do not want and will never quit. Once you open that door and enter the room "roomful of blues' simple, you'll never get out.

Mike Srijeda

Origial Language