Platomania

Roots rocker England returned to his own roots in Cairo, Illinois for his third solo CD. There he put the history of the city to music, a project he was busy with for five years. And the local VVV can be proud, because without hiding some of the dreadful details that happened in the borough (lynch mobs!) he paints a picture of a small community which had much going in its favor, but was torn between Southern and Northern mentality. Musically he uses all the styles that were ever heard in Cairo, and this album works nicely as England matches the atmosphere of the time he is describing. Barber shop singing in the traditional Going down To Cairo, beautiful country/blues in Cairo Blues but especially the high point, a splendid bit of Blaxploitation in the Theme From Stax-ish Jesse’s Coming To Town concerning the visit of Jesse Jackson in 1968. A both shocking and entertaining document that you will want to use on your next trip through America to visit this city at the merging of the Mississippi and the Ohio.

*See original review in Dutch here.