Cosmic Connection

Stoney Curtis is no stranger to psychedelic imagery. One of his albums was titled Acid Blues Experience, and the Los Angeles resident/Chicago native has an equally psychedelic-sounding title in Cosmic Conn3ction, which also has psychedelic art work and some psychedelic musical influences to go with that psychedelic-sounding title. But Cosmic Conn3ction isn't psychedelic in a poppy way. Curtis is a blues-rocker with a major appreciation of ‘60s and ‘70s hard rock, and he is as inspired and as focused on this 68-minute CD as he was on 2007's Raw and Real. Indeed, the sparks fly on sweaty, no-nonsense tracks such as "Big Beautiful Women," "When the Sweet Turns to Sour," "Mary Jayne" (not to be confused with Rick James' 1978 funk hit "Mary Jane"), and the Jimi Hendrix-minded "Soul Flower." Curtis doesn't hide his influences, drawing on everyone from Hendrix and Cream (on the psychedelic side) to George Thorogood & the Destroyers to Stevie Ray Vaughan during the course of the album. And the hints of David Lee Roth that one heard on Acid Blues Experience and Raw and Real are present on this 2011 release as well; Curtis doesn't acknowledge Roth's poppier material, although he does offer some acknowledgment of the former Van Halen singer's bluesier side. But if Cosmic Conn3ction is derivative, it is pleasingly derivative, and while Curtis isn't an innovator, he is most definitely his own man as both a singer and an electric guitarist. He has his idols and his heroes, certainly, but when all is said and done, Stoney Curtis sounds like Stoney Curtis and projects an attractive personality of his own. Plus, his writing is impressively consistent; there isn't a weak track to be found on Cosmic Conn3ction. Blues-rock lovers can't go wrong with this excellent CD.