Go The Distance

Album review

One of the songs on Go the Distance that tells listeners a lot about Walter Trout is "I Don't Want My MTV," a humorous rock & roll number that finds the blues-rocker railing against MTV for -- as he sees it -- making image, looks, and physical appearance more important than the quality of the music itself. Trout even rewrites a line from Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," singing, "Roll over, Martha Quinn, and tell Kurt Loder the news." The tune is a defining moment for Trout because it tells you a lot about him. "I Don't Want My MTV" expresses, without apology, Trout's impatience with slickness -- and whether or not you share his opinion of MTV, it is his down-home earthiness that makes Go the Distance an honest blues-rock/roots rock outing. Trout's sincerity is one of his strongest assets, and it comes through on gritty offerings like "Message on the Doorway" and "Lookin' for the Promised Land." This CD isn't for blues purists, however; Go the Distance has as much to do with roots rock as it does with the blues. But regardless of whether or not a song has 12 bars, Trout brings the feeling of the blues to everything he does. Go the Distance falls short of remarkable, but it's a solid, enjoyable effort that succeeds because Trout is willing to be true to himself.

© Alex Henderson /TiVo