SOUL DOCTOR – For A Fistful Of Dollars

Soul Doctor frontman Tommy Heart has plied his trade with glossy pompsters Fair Warning for a few years now, turning out some high quality melodic gems along the way.

As a change from his “day job,” Heart assembled Soul Doctor with long time acquaintances Chris Lyne (guitar), Mario B. (drums), and Jogy Routenberg (bass), releasing a couple of well-received discs along the way.

For A Fistful of Dollars sees Soul Doctor on fire for their third release. Whereas the aforementioned Fair Warning were polished and a little fluffy around the edges, Soul Doctor are built of much tougher stuff. Boasting a far harder abrasive sound with tinges of Southern Rock against a Classic Hard Rock backbeat, which, at times, comes across akin to AC/DC crossed with Aerosmith with a hint of the Black Crowes thrown into the mix.

Opener “Eatin’ On Me” starts with an uncharacteristic, almost Hip-Hop beat, combined with flurry of sequencers overlain by a Bluesy guitar riff before the beat kicks in big time in a driving AC/DC-esque fashion. Heart’s delivery is smoking, with a hard, gritty Blues edge adding real bite to the track. Lyne also shines on this number, pumping out a great solo through a voice box.

“Best Way To Fade” again draws heavily on the Blues with an acoustic guitar/harmonica intro before another thumping riff crashes in. Again, the AC/DC influences shine through but also there are hints of fellow Aussie rockers Kings Of The Sun in there too … anyone remember them??

The riff count lifts a notch or two for “Under Your Skin,” a real chest thumper of a track before the mood mellows a little during “Remember,” the album’s lighter in the air moment. One could almost imagine Bon Jovi jumping at the chance to get this song on his next album.

“Ten Seconds Of Love” features some dirty, grimy slide guitar and an oh so sassy chorus, complete with a parping brass section, just to round things off perfectly.

The Aerosmith influences come to the fore on “She’s Mine,” which could be the twin to “Rag Doll,” and again features the sparkling brass accompaniment, giving the whole song a real swagger to it.

After an unusually short 40 minutes, For A Fistful of Dollars closes with the acoustic Blues track “Cheap Down and Nasty,” bringing things to a somewhat premature end.

You may think that 40 minutes is poor value for money in these days of 74-minute albums (or even double CD concept albums), but in this case, it really works for the better. Instead of getting a half decent album stuffed full of fillers, you actually get an album trimmed of all the excess fat, leaving you with 8 quality hard-edged, Bluesy Rock songs and a couple of ballads. All in all, a satisfying third opus from Soul Doctor.