Overcome The Blues by Captain Thomas Project

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Overcoming my cultural resistance to the very idea of as blues album emanating from Switzerland I have to say that the good Captain is an adept musician able to deftly pick his way through a set of songs which take in everything from the traditional "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" to a rather effective composition based on a passage in Philippians "Be Careful For Nothing". As well as blues there are touches of jazz, folk and what Thomas refers to as a "kind of rockabilly". The friends he's assembled to help him out add some nicely organic touches of piano, rhythm and, on the Captain's telling of the tale of King Belshazzar "Superstitious", some tasty organ, while the voice of Thomas Buff is adequate if not exactly riveting. There are a generous 17 tracks here and it's a tribute to all involved that there's sufficient solid musicianship and spiritual insights brought out in the songs to sustain interest throughout. Oh, and I mustn't forget the song "Em Sepp Sin Blues" which is about the Swiss-France battle in Marigano in 1515. Robert Johnson never wrote about such things.