C.C. Adcock - Lafayette Marquis

Genre blues Publisher Yep Roc Records External Links Official Site Yep Roc Records

Landmark roots rocker Bo Diddley once sang "you can't judge a book by looking at its cover." But can you judge an album by reading its song titles? Probably not, but when glancing through the track listing off of C.C. Adcock's sophomore release "Layfayette Marquis," you can't help but immediately slap a big fat orange WTF? sticker onto it with song titles like,

"Y'all'd Think She'd Be Good 2 Me" "All 4 The Betta" "Blaksnak Bite" "Love N'Gold" "Slangshotz N'Boom-R-Angz"

WTF! I couldn't help but have a bad taste in my mouth going into this disc. Let me throw up and clear my pallet...(lol)

When the laser hits the polycarbonate on Lafayette Marquis and "Y'all'd Think She'd Be Good 2 Me," rattles out of the surround sound I'm willing to let my ears do any further judging.

The Jack Nitzsche produced "Stealin' All Day," rocks balls behind a driving spy-hunter bass line and "All 4 The Betta," has a hook that's sharp enough to catch the most stubborn catfish in the muddy banks, which is all well and good except that the production squeaks from a little too much LA (Los Angeles) clean and not enough of the roughneck swamp stomp of the LA (Louisiana) bayou. Something that Bo Diddley had nailed down so well so long ago with his signature song "Who Do You Love."

C.C. doesn't conjure up a tenth of that braggadocios attitude into his songs. Instead he opts for big dumb Kravitz-style riffing on songs like "Love N'Gold," and "Loaded Gun." There's a road that C.C. can take that's lined with red flying V's and cool shades that leads to a pot of gold crow. There's already one Lenny Kravitz in this world, and that may be one too many already.

Where Lafayette Marquis excels is in it's top half arrangements, with rock-and-rattling tunes mixed in with the Zydecho dance floor boogie of "Blaksnak Bite" and the country-time violin line on "Runaway Life." If C.C. could play around with his roots like this throughout the album, Lafayette Marquis would be significantly stronger.

But C.C. must obviously be looking for the royalty money he'll be making for every play "Slangshotz N' Boom R-Angz" gets during table dances at strip clubs, because really, while it may be a good deal for a five-minute grind, that's really about all it's good for.

C.C. writes, "It's my attempt at modern country soul music," when describing "Between the Lies," the epic length album closer. "And it leaves me with a hint of a future direction." A change is most welcome, C.C.

Lafayette Marquis,, while not being terrible, certainly ain't great. It flashes with promise in spots where it melds various swamp influences and it falls flat in areas with overblown guitar riffs and cheap bombast. If anything, listening to this album for has made me go back to Bo Diddley and appreciate his true greatness even more.