We get a live document of what singer Michael Des Barres manages presently with his band on this 11-song live disc, Hot N Sticky Live. Opening with arguably the best song (and title track) from 2012 Carnaby Street album, this spiked guitar organ stomper sets the mood for a rocking intimate club date. Bubbling up from the funk and low organ, the nasty “You’re My Pain Killer” follows, featuring the backing vocals of bassist Paul III’s, drummer David Goodstein and organist Damon Fox. De Barres’ band is a tight little quartet, which also includes Mark Tremalgia on guitar, play as good as they sing.
There’s the very echoey vocal and standalone guitar opening to De Barres’ cover of “Stop, In The Name of Love,” with the main man meandering for the melody with his growl of a vocal. The choruses work though beyond what are pretty much spoken verses with Fox’s organ pushing through and that four-on-four beat from drummer Goodstein. Des Barres kicks up his vocal prowess a notch midway through the set – first with the torchy and slow “Please Stay” (a tune that features Tremalgia’s slide work), then growling through a loud and ballsy cover of “Detective Man,” sounding like a cross between Graham Bonnet and Brian Johnson.
“Little Latin Lover” is a noisy and straight ahead Mott The Hoople sounding send up, with the band and De Barres in perfect sync. It all ends with De Barres’ own “My Baby Saved My Ass,” a wailing cover of “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and a rocking “Get It On.” You might recall De Barres replaced Robert Palmer in The Power Station, so his version of the T. Rex classic goes over well. Hot N Sticky Live is, ahem, hot and sticky rock and roll from the great Michael De Barres and his cracker-jack band.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
