Zach Top Chills & Thrills

Whenever Bernard Allison clicks on his Mesa Boogie rig, it's strictly Chills & Thrills for the listener. He easily transforms the rawest of emotion into notes that speak to everyone. On Chills & Thrills, the magical 12th disc of his career, Bernard has perfected his sound. Instead of just using his guitar, Bernard has become an artist who uses the full palate of musical colors in his band to paint his stories. Just like his famous guitar totin' father Luther Allison. "In order for anything to expand, you have to take a risk," says Bernard. "Blues is about experimenting and getting your feelings across to someone else. And if you want to keep it going, people are going to have to give it all a chance because we're losing all our creators. Because I've been taking risks on every album I've recorded, this record is just a logical progression from everything else I've done. Instead of playing rippin' 12 bar blues guitar over and over, there are bluesy songs, soul, funk, R&B songs and a couple of rock things which shows the overall musicianship of Bernard Allison." If there ever was a CD for all occasions, this is it. It's got the chill songs to curl up with on a rainy day, or the thrill music you'll blast when you're driving late at night. By adding the rhythm guitar of Bernard's guitar soulmate Eric Gales, every song explodes into a guitar player's head trip. Any fan of Bernard Allison knows that every show or record comes with one of his father's songs. "I always make a point to record one of my father's songs. Though my pop's gone, for me, he's not gone anywhere. He's looking down at me every minute. He knew where my heart was and what I wanted to do." Here, Bernard reprises Luther's 1980's tune "Serious," played with Bernard's errie, Luther-like vocal attack. This is the deep-seated commitment of an artist taking his art and commitment to the next level with heart and soul and Ruf Records is happy to re-release this remarkable album (for the first time as Vinyl), which has originally been released in 2007.