Vykki Vox

September 12 - 19, 1 9 9 6 [Off the Record]

** Vykki Vox

SOUL SEARCHING

(Webrock)
Fortunately for Vox (not her real name), she was a finalist in this year's Harpers Ferry Battle of the Blues Bands. Unfortunately for her, the significance of the Harpers battle has dwindled since phenoms like the Radio Kings (1991) and the Susan Tedeschi Band (1994) won.
Vox's debut CD should change that. Although she bills herself as a blueswoman, the CD is an exercise in soul and funk with standards like "Maybe" and "Come to Mama," on which Vox has the Oedipal appeal to reduce men to wide-eyed boys. But the liberally smeared electric guitars and grinding bass are difficult to listen to. On the other hand, "I'm on Your Side" (written by Vox and keyboardist Dave Osoff) is a slick retro-soul rocker with a debt to Lenny Kravitz. With her stabbing, confident vocals, Vox comes off as a polished Joanna Connor, an R&B-fluent singer who grew up listening to Hendrix. The gem of the CD is "Too Many Cooks," a Vox-Osoff tune with horn section and Osoff piano licks reminiscent of Professor Longhair. It suggests that Vox has the songwriting and singing ability to make the grade.
-- Marc Levy
(Vykki Vox plays Johnny D's this Saturday, September 14.)