Let It Out

THE SHOUT: "Let It Out" (Messiah Complex)

EVER WISHED you were around when John Lee Hooker was in his prime, when the blues still meant something, when Brian Jones was a Rolling Stone and Hendrix was still revolutionary, when Clapton was on smack? Does the name Mitch Ryder make you tap a foot and do you think Wilko should have stayed with the Feelgoods?

Have you asked yourself, is there life after pub r'n'b? Does anybody make real music with a real feel anymore? If so, then there is one vital purchase for you to make this year: The Shout's incomparable debut, Let It Out. If not, piss off.

The Shout self-financed this CD rather than have a record company hack the guts out of it. The result is that it retains the live, something-happening, real-people sound that makes them so popular on the live circuit, without losing anything in terms of professionalism or sloping off into the undisciplined realms of show-off self-indulgence.

Guitarist/vocalist Vince Pereczes possesses one hell of a voice, twinned with an extraordinary feel for powerful, emotive guitar across the entire blues/r'n'b spectrum. Will Hampel is that rare thing: a drummer with a percussive feel, a sensitivity of touch which can coax or demand. You will never look a drum machine in the face again.

The band stress the importance of the album's lyrical content as much as their belief that music should be spontaneous, lively and fun for both band and audience. Without any loss of that essential good-times feeling, The Shout manage to tread ground which few could get away with without sounding like a whinging hippy.

They flaunt their unfashionable values: 'Shine On', through its funky blues and Negro spiritual style backing vocals admonishes "If you love your brother/Love your sister too/You might just find some love is gonna shine right down on you." It fades out with handclaps, harmonica and those beautiful voices chanting "Shine, shine on . . ."

The title track more or less describes the process by which the Shout make their music. When it all gets too much for you . . . scream, shout, let it out. The message goes on with 'Warrior's Blues'. Amongst a sparse pulsing break, and a smattering of scat singing, we are told "The time is right to kick down the door/scream/claim your destiny." The Shout dig People Power.

And with 'Shout About', Kravitz vanishes up his own arse in a puff of joss-stick smoke. This is The Shout's call to arms. Admittedly it contains lyrics like 'everybody needs to shout out right now' and offers some suggestions of things to shout about - poisoning the sea, killing of the trees, human greed, raping mother earth - but I suppose they've got a point there.

The Shout is crying out to be heard. The Shout also wants you to enjoy your life, without destroying life. Info/mail order: 11A Fortress Road, London NW5 1AD. CD: £7.99/tape: £5.99 sterling.

• Fay Wolftree