Nick Moss - Privileged (2010)

Over the course of almost ten years and better than a half-dozen studio and live albums, bandleader Nick Moss and his talented outfit the Flip Tops have risen to the top of the blues world on the strength of their dynamic live performances and inspired reimagining of the classic Chicago blues sound. However, album number eight – Privileged – is the first where the Flip Tops name is conspicuously missing from the album cover. Given the album’s stark, Depression-era cover graphics and its heavier blues-rock sound, it’s obvious that Privileged represents a new musical direction for Nick Moss.

Nick Moss’s Privileged

With “Born Leader,” which some scribes believe was written about President Obama, Moss achieves both topicality and pays homage to his Chicago blues roots. Myself, I don’t think that the song is so much about Obama (although it certainly applies) as much as a commentary on the difficulties of statesmanship and the role of the elite in governing – kind of a Dylanesque “don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters” view of things. Moss delivers his forceful vocals above a muscular rhythm, garnishing the song with a taut, screaming solo. Heavier, perhaps, than your normal Moss/Flip Tops fare, the song provides a perfect intro to the brutish charms of Privileged.

A shuffling cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Louise” adds the smell of cypress and gator breath to the Chicago blues stomp, the band rockin’ full-tilt while Moss shouts out the lyrics with obvious joy, his guitar crunching the chords and shivering with each serpentine note Moss plays. The original “Georgia Redsnake” follows suit, the song delving deeper into the swamp with a mix of Delta blues and roots-rock that is nothing but mesmerizing. With multi-instrumental talent Gerry Hundt pickin’ a mean mandolin, and Moss throwing in some slinky guitarwork above drummer Bob Carter’s driving rhythms, they crank out a juke-joint rave-up that successfully captures the spirit of the Mississippi backroads.

Privileged At Birth

The current economic morass is a recurring theme on Privileged, and the title track, “Privileged At Birth,” provides a strong commentary on the subject. Asking those who have benefited from the de facto theft of wealth “how can you sleep,” Moss digs a little deeper and asks, rhetorically, “is your time well-spent here on Earth?” The pointed lyrics are backed up by a solid mid-tempo groove with a thick layer of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards and Moss adds a few Southern rock-styled licks into the mix for good measure.

The band’s cover of Cream’s “Politician” is right in line with this storyline, and they exaggerate everything that was great about the original, reverting to power trio mode for the performance. The recurring bass riff is bigger and fatter, Moss’s slightly echoed vocals are treading water in the claustrophobic mix, and Carter’s drumwork provides a constant assault on the senses. The result is a powerful number that benefits from Moss’s dusky fretwork, which doesn’t mimic Clapton’s original performance as much as stuff it with steroids and pump the sucker up to Godzilla-sized proportions.

She’s So Fine

Moss and the Flip Tops take a ride back down the Delta with an inspired, modernized take on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “She’s So Fine (Born Blind).” The song’s words are pure blues heaven with such folkish lyrical turns as “she made a crippled man walk” and “she made a lawyer tell the truth” used by the singer in describing just how fine his woman is. Above a solid, almost galloping rhythm, Moss embroiders a spirited solo while his vocals are gruff and soulful.

By contrast, the album’s final cover – of Stephen Stills’ Buffalo Springfield gem “For What It’s Worth” – is radically remade as a 1970s-styled funk throwdown. Arranged by Carter, the song is provided a slippery groove and a shimmering “wah wah” guitar line, with Moss adding some super-fine Sly Stone-styled solos, keyboardist John Kattke playing the Bernie Worrell role, and “Stumpy” Hutchkins channeling his inner Bootsy.

“Why Should I Care” may be the best topical song that Moss has penned to date, an unabashed blues-rocker with scorching guitar, a freight train rhythm, and pure blues lyrics. With his gravel-throated vocals almost buried beneath a wall of sound, Moss’s lyrical protagonist asks “I never had nothin’, why should I even care?” while comparing the vacuous assurances of both the political left and the right, which both leave the poor and working class behind the eight-ball. The song structure is straight Depression-era Delta blues, but the sound is guitar-driven British blooz-rock. Privileged closes with the raucous instrumental “Bolognious Funk,” which fuses Chicago blues roots with high-octane rock ‘n’ roll in providing the talents of each band member to shine through. Moss’s guitar here is particularly devastating, running throughout the song like a jagged thread of razor wire.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Yeah, Privileged is definitely more blues-rock than Chicago blues-oriented, a natural evolution, perhaps, for the band, or maybe just a fleeting flirtation with the music that Moss cut his eye teeth on. Like many of his (and my own) generation, Nick Moss came to the blues through the reverent reinterpretations of folks like Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Allman Brothers Band, and others that took the blues, R&B, and soul and added them to the rock ‘n’ roll musical palette.

Whether or not Privileged represents a permanent break from the band’s Chicago blues roots or not is a story yet to be told; suffice it to say that, given the talents of Moss and the Flip Tops, these songs burn like white phosphorus with passionate performances and gifted musicianship. Those of you who, like the Reverend, appreciate a little white knuckle rock ‘n’ roll cheap thrills mixed in with our blues will find a lot to like about Nick Moss’s Privileged.

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