|ALBUM & GIG REVIEWS|
‘Three is A Crowd’ Album Launch gig review by Blues in Britain by Graeme Wheatley, August 2018 Issue.
Article on Blues Matters magazine by Steve Yourglivch 6/12/2017:
Gig review by Down to Front Media by Michelle Flynn 18/10 2017:
Gig: Taming The Black Dog, Charity gig for Sane.
…”Mete Ege’s London Blusion were a late addition to the bill, and exciting for me as I had never come across them before. London Blusion somehow manage to blur the lines between blues, jazz, and funk, and add in a bit of slide guitar. This definitely got the crowd moving and I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a unique mix of sounds that managed to perfectly complement each other. There were funky blues riffs galore, husky vocals, swathes of groove, a good measure of southern soul, and a combination of jazz/funk keys. The highlight of the set for me was the instrumental tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The enigmatic Mete gave a master class in how to hold a crowd’s attention during an instrumental performance; I could not keep my eyes off him, his playing is hypnotising. If you ever get a chance to see London Blusion, you really should.”…
“Second Time Lucky” Album review by Hugh Fee for Blues in Britain Magazine:
London Blusion – “Second Time Lucky” 2017.
…”Take Mete Ege, a fantastically talented Guitarist with Blues in his Soul. Assemble a group of fantastic musicians, each with a top pedigree, from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Add 16 fantastic songs of the finest crafted blues and you have London Blusion with their fantastic album; Second Time Lucky.
Every song on this album just screams for your attention, and every song entertains you to the end. The opener Oh Why? (reelin’ with Elliot), an instrumental that lays down a funky beat, and gives each musician the chance to showcase their skills, and boy do they take the opportunity….this band is tighter than two coats of paint.
Every track teases you, you never want it to stop, but when it does the next track takes over and you’re away again.
Morning Sun Blues, gives us a breather. A mellow track combining beautiful slide playing, and highlighting the tone of Mete’s soulful vocals.
But we’re back into the groove with the next track Whispers On The Wall. London Noir slows us down again, adding some brass and giving us that late night feel, tipping its hat to Mete’s jazz influences.
Other highlights are the instrumental Jimi, and Devil Outside.
16 tracks of the finest Blues, this album rocks from beginning to end.“…
Album review by Yanick Theriault for Cigare & Whiskey
Mete Ege’s London Blusion is simply, flat out, well composed with fine whiskey overtones. I can’t say enough of the album and I only played two songs on air tonight: Wanna Talk and Second Time Lucky. Kudo’s to the female vocalists. They really raised the bar.
“Second Time Lucky” Album review by Jos Verhagen for BLUES MAGAZINE:
(Translated from Dutch)
…”This is what Mete Ege, a London guitarist and his partner Nick Marangoni (drums) have achieved with the second cd “Second Time Lucky”. This cd has fourteen tracks on it by a great number of participating musicians, as many as needed to let all have their share and even some two more bonus tracks.
The cd starts with an instrumental song “Oh Why” with Steely Dan’s Guitarist Elliot Randall and Mete Ege, licking our ears with some fine guitar solos, backed up by a strong horns section, which is heard on most of the cd. With “Wanna Talk” London Blusion shows what they want to be, a company that wants to bring some good stuff with juicy slide guitar work and backing vocalists who press hard to empty their lungs, a groovy bass, horns, just a strong song. The third song, also the title track, is “Second Time Lucky”, sung by Claudia Zannoni. Mete Ege confirms here that he is the band leader and establishes that with his (almost showing off) guitar skills. Claudia Zannoni is heard again in Security Blues and other tracks as backing vocalist. In a duet with Mete, she proves to have great skills. This song is like the title track, groovy and funky.
The song titled “Guitarmen” you expect a blasting guitar but with this song Mete shows a different kind of approach. Inviting other guitarists Mo Nazam ,Nigel Price, Ugur Karaman, Steve Kelly to play with him, he shows his jazzy mood while enjoying his guests’ guitar work. No horns this time but some nice Hammond in the background. For some more out coming guitar work you’ll find an homage to Jimi Hendrix in the song called “Jimi”. Mete Ege and Alexander Ferragamo give homage in this medley to well know Jimi Hendrix tunes. Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Along The Watchtower and put in some Joe Sartriani as well. Some fine guitar work showing a lot of class out of the London blues scene.
Next you will find a variety collection of songs. Some rootsy, bluesy like “Morning Sun Blues”, a slow acoustic blues, imagining yourself sitting on some porch in Alabama. In “Whispers On The Wall” you are hearing back again funky blues, sounding like the first three songs on the album, hereafter the jazzy “London Noir” sends you in a different direction. Basically, a great trumpet solo and some slick relaxed jazzy blues guitar , completed with a Rhodes piano. This will change soon enough again into a guitar lead song with some great horns. To be continued into some dark longing “Man Of This Land”, with some nice slide guitar backed up with some heated bass. Just One Skin is a blues rock number sung by Lisa Yves. And the finishing song Devil Outside reminds us a bit of Tony Joe White. Thus this cd stays very entertaining and the performances by musicians is great.
London Blusion is a group that has enough variety with musicians with love for the blues, bringing a variety of songs on a cd well produced.“…
|RADIO TESTIMONIALS|
The band have been on the radio airwaves both nationally and internationally since the first album Mete Ege – London Blues was released in 2013. It was also regularly played by many IBBA (Independent Blues Broadcasters Association) DJs and was selected by Ian McKenzie (the founder of IBBA and chief editor of “Blues in the South” magazine) to be at 10th place in the TOP100 albums of 2015. 2017 album “Second Time Lucky” is still being played by radio stations both nationally and internationally reaching TOP14 on the IBBA charts for many months and was selected by DJ Tony Corner of Rock Radio UK to be in the TOP40 of the best of 2017 albums/bands whittled down from 694 artists and over 7030 songs submitted during the year representing the cream of 2017.
London Blusion’s third album ‘Three is A Crowd’ came out in June 7th 2018 and straight away was listed best album of the month by IBBA and reached up to no 4 in the most played albums in July 2018 and still being aired.
Here are some testimonials regarding London Blues album and the singles from UK and international radio shows & DJs:
Blues on the Marsh DJ Kevin Beale: London Blues is pretty damn fine.
Blues is the Truth DJ Ian McHugh: Mete is a talented guitarist with a great band!
The Blues Club DJ Jim McNeill: Mete Ege and London Blues are amazing musicians!
Blues Corner DJ Tony Corner: London Blues, superb guitarist, band and album!
Soul of the Blues DJ Jeremy Rees: Excellent Blues guitarist with a very unusual name! Great, great sound!
The Blues and Soul Show DJ Jason Elliot: The whole album took me by surprise with its originality, exuberance and sense of purpose.
Friday Night Blues DJ Hugh Fee: Mete’s London Blues is making a big noise around the blues world, and this album will consolidate their position among the masters of modern blues.
Living Room Blues DJ John Van Lent: Great band, great album from London, UK !
The Blues Hour DJ Dr Wart Hoover: Mete’s London Blues band, just great !
Black on Blues DJ Kevin Black: Mete and his amazing London Blues !
Another Blues is Knocking DJ Leen Velthuis: Enjoy the amazing Mete and London Blues!
Blues Before Sunrise DJ Ian McKenzie: This is good music. Who are Mete’s influences? They are on my TOP10 list!
The Blues Show DJ Paul Smith: Mete and London Blues belongs to the future of modern blues.
Blues Beat DJ Geoff Pegler : Heard it, loved it and playing it !
LONDON BLUSION 