Williams, Elmo & Hezekiah Early – Takes One to Know One - New LP

Takes One To Know One by Elmo Williams and Hezekiah Early   This album contains some of the noisiest and most unapologetically down-home blues recorded in the post-war era. Hezekiah Early and Elmo Williams are both semi-professional musicians, but both play and sing as if their life depended on it, with force and power. The blues this duo plays are decidedly modern (even post-modern), and would appeal to any fan of Sonic Youth's white noise rock and Captain Beefheart's Dadaesque R&B. Williams' guitar on "Hoopin' and Hollern'" sounds like it was played through a completely fired amp, and Early's harp on "Insane Instrumental" sounds like a trucker grinding gears. But that doesn't mean the duo can't conjure up some soul. William's gospel-ish "Let It All Go" closes the album.- John Duffy of Allmusic