SUPER 400 Super 400 (Island)

Even more New Yorkers, Super 400 are a trio of Kenny Hohman (guitar, vocals), Lori Friday (piano, bass) and Joe Daly (drums). The press release claims them to be ‘redolent of such iconic power trios as the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream’ - consider that the last band I heard compared with those two in the same sentence was Tin Machine - but the evidence suggests that Super 400 learnt their trade from modern day retro rockers such as the Spin Doctors, Lenny Kravitz and the Black Crowes rather than the real thing. Their sound is all impassioned but empty vocals and complex, springboard-riffed but unmemorable funk rock. The fact that they cover Nick Drake’s "Black Eyed Dog" on the flip of their first single endears them to me, but the sound they make on this album makes me equally glad that I haven’t heard said cover.