I’ve been listening to George Thorogood on and off for whole lotta years. It hasn’t been very much in later years. But I still remember when I first heard Move it on over, Bad to the Bone and Back to Wentzville. Those were my first connections with George Thorogood and the Destroyers. I still got them on vinyl too. Now, it seems, that George has left the Destroyers behind for the album called Party of One. Well, it’s all in the title, isn’t it?
I don’t know if it’s true or not. But I remember reading once that George Thorogood achieved his unique sound by playing the slide guitar and playing it technically “wrong”. I think it was something with that you’re supposed to dampening the string when playing with a slide, and that George didn’t do that. Something like that. I don’t really care if he does it correctly or not, I like the sound. And I like his vocals too. It’s a lot of blues in that voice.
In another article, I read that George Thorogood only knew ‘three licks’. And that’s why he was so repetitive with them. That was supposedly something he said himself. I don’t think that is true for Party of One though. It’s actually one of the most diverse albums I ever heard with him. I think that it’s a bit too little melody in the songs and after a few of them you start to get a bit tired of the monotony. I’m not saying this is bad in any way (except maybe to the bone), but it’s hard to keep focus after a while. There’s fast songs and slow songs but still, Party of one sounds a bit boring. I like the first half of it better but that’s almost always the case.
