Steel on Steel
After two decades of obscurity in the show-biz black hole of western Australia, singer-guitarist Dave Hole finally released his first U.S. album,Short Fuse Blues, in '92. He made his first U.S. tour in the fall of '93, and has now released his third album here,Steel on Steel. The title refers to Hole's trump card, his fast, flashy, steel-cylinder-on-steel-strings slide work. Over the course of his three albums, Hole's blues-rock sound has shifted its emphasis from blues to rock, andSteel on Steelclearly stresses the instrumental pyrotechnics of such guitar heroes as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey over the emotional drama of such pickers as Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal.  Recorded in Perth, Australia, with Hole's long-time road band,Steel on Steelcontains plenty of showy licks. "Take Me to Chicago," for example, contains a full catalogue of Elmore James riffs, and the first single, "Quicksand," builds to Cream-like solos. Hole, who wrote 12 of the 13 cuts, is a competent bar-band singer and songwriter, but his distinguishing trademark is his ability to play melodic slide phrases with lots of embellishments over galloping rhythms. More and more, that trick has become the whole show.--Geoffrey Himes