Rockin' Highliners

Mellow moods are the groove de jour on Sputnik Café. While not exactly living up to the Rockin' moniker on this release, the Rockin' Highliners nonetheless lay down some phat blues and gritty licks on their fourth release. Greg Demchuk's harp is as dirty as a stray hound on "What I Like Best" and vocalist Robert Tyeholis struts though the material with road-tested verve and confidence. The band is good at keeping their blues from drifting too close to the generic side with their slow-heavy feel and inventive rhythm guitar licks driving most songs but a few more up-tempo rockers would make the album more balanced.