When the train comes along (Reverend Garry Davis) LP 3246 - 3247)

Borich 'n' Tilders  The Blues Had A Baby (Vinyl, Eureka/RCA Records, 1980) ****  

Reverend Gary Davis   Children Of Zion (Vinyl, Heritage Records, 1985) ****  

Genre: NZ Music, blues

Places I remember: Little Red Bookshop

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Something To Work On (Borich 'n' Tilders)

Gear costume: Bad Books (Borich 'n' Tilders) (YouTube)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I came across these two blues albums recently in the Little Red Bookshop while waiting for my brother to arrive for a catch up.

Kevin Borich is joined by Dutch Tilders in Borich 'n' Tilders. They both play guitar and Dutch handles the lead vocals. They play some cool electric blues on this set - think George Thorogood and The Destroyers style.

I've been after the Rev Gary Davis at Newport album for a long time and was thrilled to find Children Of Zion - a live recording from 1971. It's not super rare or anything, it's just an excellent set from the master. His singing and acoustic guitar work is earthy and real.

Where do they all belong? Two ends of the blues spectrum - NZ electric guitarist Borich and the venerable Reverend Gary Davis.

Snowball king (Kevin Borich) (LP 2939 - 2941)

Kevin Borich Express  Celebration! (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1977) ***  

Kevin Borich Express  Angels Hand (Vinyl, Stunn Records, 1980) **** 

Kevin Borich Express  Shy Boys/ Shy Girls (Vinyl, Stunn Records, 1981) ***

Genre: NZ Music, rock 

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records, Electric City Music (Shy Boys/ Shy Girls)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Celebration!

Gear costume: I Just Wanna Love You

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Active compensatory factors: Kevin Borich was a member of legendary NZ band the La De Das. When they broke up Kevin went the hard rock power trio route with his Kevin Borich Express.

Celebration! was their debut album and, although instantly recognisable as a seventies sound, it still sounds really good - a kind of nascent NZ Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs with Kevin playing the axe hero role well.  

Unfortunately, neither the record company nor the lineup was  ever settled enough to get any momentum going so the Kevin Borich Express is a bit of a forgotten entity. A pity because a lot of Celebration! is funky and on the money! In a parallel universe he could have been NZ's Robin Trower.

Angel's Hand was the band's fifth album in three years. You can't say they were idle! This is another stunning album. Celebration! has its rough and ready charms, while Angel's Hand is more polished (but not slick) and it rocks out with conviction.

Along the way the power trio sounds a little like Rory Gallagher at times (Full Moon), but also like new wave rockers (i.e. Gary Myrick) at others (One More Dream).

This album should have been huge! 

Line-up changes continued with bass player Michael Deep joining along with drummer Kerry Jacobsen from Dragon for Shy Boys/ Shy Girls in 1981 (candidate for worst cover ever btw). Lobby Lloyd co-produces and helping out on vocals are Renee Geyer and Marc Hunter among others.

Where do they all belong? A sadly neglected corner of the NZ rock music catalogue. I'll continue to gobble up any other Kevin Borich Express albums I come across.