Nine Below Zero
The Manor Ballroom, Ipswich, Suffolk
**** NEW DATE Saturday 12th February 2011 NEW DATE ****
UK BLUES LEGENDS RETURN WITH THEIR FINEST EVER STUDIO ALBUM IN THEIR 30TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR
For three decades Nine Below Zero have delivered an explosive mix of blues & rock in live performances that never fail to leave their audiences illuminated and exhausted.
The definitive line-up of this tightest of live bands has been in place for eighteen years, and they play with a discipline that only experience & confidence brings. After thousands of shows together, this incendiary on-stage chemistry has enabled Nine Below Zero to sell-out venues all over Europe.
The six albums Nine Below Zero recorded for A&M, Warner Music and EMI between 1979 and 1995 brought chart success and media attention. However, in 1997 the band decided to take control of their own affairs, and have since quietly built their own Zed Records into a solid business, releasing four albums and two DVDís in the process.
Having traditionally been a 'media shy' band, the release of their new studio album, "It's Never Too Late", announces Nine Below Zero as a band no longer content to 'fly below the radar'.
The twelve original tracks found on "It's Never Too Late" were recorded at 45 RPM Studios on the edge of the River Thames in London. At the desk on dual production duties are Nine Below Zero and Glenn Tilbrook and, between them, they have captured something that normally eludes the studio process: the energy and feel of a Nine Below Zero live show.
Previous tours with The Who, The Kinks, Eric Clapton, Sting and Chuck Berry, amongst many others, have left their indelible mark, and these eclectic influences are hinted at on several of the tracks heard on "It's Never Too Late".
The album opens with "Mechanic Man", on which Nine Below Zero's singer & guitarist Dennis Greaves' much loved 1962 Fender Stratocaster is given an enthusiastic workout. The same guitar is also evident on the Motown tinged "Little by Little", and also on the upbeat "I'm So Alone".
Dennis' distinctive Gibson ES 335 is the instrument of choice on "Breakin’ Down" (where Mark Feltham's trademark harmonica also tells its story). The Gibson ES 335 is featured the album'’s remaining tracks, with the exception of "The Story of Nathan John". With Dennis dusting down his trusty Avalon Acoustic, "The Story of Nathan John" and tells the story of a young man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The album's title track, "It’s Never Too Late", sees the band at their funk'n' best, with the rock-solid rhythm section talents of bassist Gerry McAvoy and drummer Brendan O'Neill coming to the fore, whilst "Hit The Spot" exudes an infectious riff that you just can't shake from your head.
There's a lyrical nod to Elvis Presley on the "You're The Man" ("if you fry your bananas in the finest silk pyjamas"), while "Hit The Ground Running" stokes up the rockier side of Nine Below Zero. "Fairweather Friends", meanwhile, is a snapshot of relationships with Music Industry figures, with "A Man Out Of You" recounting the tale of an offer to impart hard-earned experience, which is rebuffed. The album closes with arguably the albumís most commercial track, "You", and already looks set to become another 'live' favourite.
It may have taken them thirty years, but "It's Never Too Late" is the musical statement Nine Below Zero have always wanted to make and proves, beyond doubt, that Nine Below Zero are no longer music's best kept secret.
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