North Mississippi Allstars: 51 Phantom : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The North Mississippi allstars' 2000 debut, Shake Hands With Shorty, celebrated rough-cut Mississippi hill-country blues as defined by R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. 51 Phantom mostly leaves behind such influences and explores rock & roll territory. Blues fans might frown upon the decision - the Allstars came closer to true blues credibility than any other recent great white hopes, including Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. But give the Allstars credit for being adventurous. They display a new maturity on 51 Phantom's best tracks, "Storm" and "Leavin'," which have beautifully tapered, midtempo rock melodies that would sound right at home on college radio. "Snakes in My Bushes" summons the delectable boogie-blues wisdom of ZZ Top, and "Sugartown" sounds as if it were born in the late Sixties when heavy blues was transformed into heavy metal. Then there's "Up Over Yonder," with its crazy Caribbean lilt, and "Mud," a frenzied, autobiographical romp, which is part punk and part metal and includes the twisted demonic chant, "I'm in the mud and the mud's in me." The Allstars have realized that reinventing themselves is more important than retracing old footsteps, and more fun, too.

ROBERT SANTELLI
(RS 883/884 - December 6, 2001)