It’s easy to tag Malone Sibun as a blues rock outfit, combining as it does the talents of Detroit-born singer and guitarist Marcus Malone, who has released a handful of albums here in Britain, and guitarist Innes Sibun, who has previously worked with Robert Plant and Sari Schorr alongside his solo career. It’s a handy enough label for what they do, but Come Together, their first album working together, demonstrates that they’re not one-trick ponies – even if the psychedelic sleeve, featuring the two of them looking like they’ve been jabbed with cattle prods, is a bit of a decoy.
ongs like ‘Let Me Love You’ and ‘Lovelight’ certainly fit the blues rock archetype. ‘Let Me Love You’ opens up with a gritty, Zep-esque somersaulting riff, to which Sibun adds filigrees of slide guitar before it settles into the kind of territory that’s familiar from Malone’s earlier work. Again, it’s easy to compare his vocal style with Paul Rodgers, but if the cap fits as you listen to this, while Sibun makes his presence felt with a needle-sharp solo. And yes, there’s something vaguely Whitesnake-ish about the vibe of ‘Lovelight’, with its ripped out, ruff’n’tuff chords and catchy chorus complemented by smatterings of lead guitar, before a key change triggers a good solo from Sibun, and they take it down for the bridge before adding a guitar harmony segment for good measure.
The slow blues box is ticked by ‘So Tired Of Living’, a Sibun composition on which Malone comes over all Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland while his partner adds guitar licks over simple organ colourings from Stevie Watts, and shows bags of feeling on his solo, when he stretches things out and leaves plenty of space, though at times he does have a tendency to go to the other extreme with flurries of unnecessary notes. And there’s even a hint of talking blues about ‘Rabbit Hole’, a slight but fun affair with a shuffling rhythm laid down by Malone’s long-time drummer Chris Nugent, more slide guitar from Sibun, and a rollicking bridge and solo.
But Malone and Sibun also like to veer into more soulful stylings. ‘She’s My Girl’ may rock, with big chords and squealing Sibun slide, but at heart it’s a booty-shaking Sixties soul concoction with a “where have I heard it before” chorus that morphs into an irresistible “ooh, ooh, ooh-la-la” middle eight. Meanwhile both ‘I Want You Back’ and the closing ‘Everyday’s A Miracle’ are relaxed and sun-kissed offerings, the former with Philly-sounding backing vocals – but thankfully no syrupy Philly strings – and the latter with an optimistic lyric that’s straight out of the Malone playbook, and a spot on solo from Sibun that glides over a key change.
There’s more good stuff too, starting with the opening ‘Come Together’ with its tough, stop-start riff and a Morse Code-like solo from Sibun, though I’m less convinced by its rather strained backing vocals. It lays down a marker with its great sound though, bringing out booming drums from Nugent and grooving bass from Roger Inniss. ‘Taste Of Your Love’ is reprised from Malone’s 2007 album Hurricane, and while I might have picked others from his back catalogue, provides some stylistic balance with its acoustic guitar opening reminiscent of Whitesnake’s ‘Ain’t Gonna Cry No More Today’ and patient, sometimes double-tracked vocals, before revving up and kicking ass from the bridge onwards. And ‘Jodie’ is a rattling blast of roll, with honky tonk piano from Watts in the background and a scrabbling Sibun solo over a great bass groove from Inniss.
Ultimately I reckon Come Together is one killer song short of really knocking it out of the park, but that’s a compliment really – a sense that the best may still be to come once the Malone and Sibun partnership has matured. But their first outing still confirms that these are blues rockers who have plenty of musical clubs in their bag, and who know how to swing ‘em.
I wasn’t planning on writing a political or ‘save the planet’ message-laced song. The lyrics are clearly about the human condition, the way we treat one another and the way we are treating the planet.
– Marcus Malone
