Voodoo Ramble – In The Heart Of The City
Voodoo Ramble – In The Heart Of The City
Format: CD
Label: CD Baby
Release: 2025
Release date: May 14, 2025
Croatian blues/rock band Voodoo Ramble featuring Boris Zamba with special guest Muddy Manninen (Wishbone Ash), British blues legend Mick Pini & Marcus Flynn (The Guitar Legends/ 10cc/ Mike & The Mechanics/Fun Lovin Criminals) release their 4th album ‘In the Heart Of The City’
‘In The Heart Of The City’ is a cornerstone album for the band, as it embodies everything that Voodoo Ramble has done so far. It rocks hard with a bluesy heart, on well crafted songs given real presence by Boris’s impassioned vocals.
As band leader Boris Zamba says: “This is a fourth album and probably the best one so far. But we’ll let the listeners and broadcasters decide that! It could have been titled ‘Collaboration Blues’ because of the people who played on it. But I decided on the title the moment that songwriter/lyricist Pete Feenstra sent me these amazing lyrics and Everything dropped into place.”
‘In The Heart of The City’ also includes special guests Muddy Manninen (ex Wishbone Ash, Black Pearl) who brings an intuitive feel and plays some imperious slide on ‘Midnight Ride’.
British blues legend Mick Pini adds his unique tone colour to the suitably titled ‘I’m A Bluesman Baby’, while Marcus Flynn – known affectionately by Zamba as “The fingers of fury” – drops in an incendiary slide solo on ‘4000 Years Old’.
As Boris summarises: “We wondered what to do next, after the well received ‘Home Again’ album. And the answer seems to be in the songs, so we’ll just RAMBLE on and see where it takes us.”
Website: https://www.voodooramble.com/index.php/en/
ALBUM TRACK NOTES
*The album is superbly mixed and produced by Dragutin Smokrovic-Smokva aka “The Fig”.
Tracks:
01. In the Heart of the City (Feenstra/Zamba)
Boris wasn’t sure about the album title until he got to this song. It’s all about the hustle and bustle of relationships
02. Take You Home (Feenstra/Zamba)
Nice contrasting acoustic and electric guitars on a cool arrangement, with an original middle eight. Some great drumming by Damir Somen on this track really pushes the song.
03. Midnight Ride (Feenstra/Zamba)
A song about an illicit love affair, which was probably in Victorian times. The mix of unison guitars, Muddy Manninen’s searing slide, and Boris’s strong vocal evokes the lyrical imagery perfectly.
04. I’m A Bluesman Baby (Zamba)
Some lovely contrasting tones on a back to the basics blues. It’s a track full of spontaneity. Boris and Mick Pini plugged into Mick’s German ‘House of Happiness’ studio, waited for the nod, and then did what they do so well.
05. 4000 Years Old (Feenstra/Zamba)
Pete had an idea for a song about enduring love and the way real feelings remain constant over time. It’s all there in the nature that surrounds us, especially the olive tree. We were looking for a dynamic guitar break and Marcus Flynn jumped in and added lashings of the good stuff.
06. Don’t Leave Me 4 Good (Zamba)
Boris in his element on a guitar-led blues with horns!!!! He’s almost in Gary Moore mode, surrounded by an excellent horn arrangement and he sounds as if he was just warming up in the fade. Enjoy!
07. Walk Away (Feenstra/Zamba)
A song about commitment and prevarication which Boris transforms into a spiky rocker.
08. Cold Hearted Woman (Zamba)
This is a booming up tempo shuffle, with a catchy ‘call and response’ section. Check out Boris’s superb vibrato and stinging solo
09. I Refuse (to Feel The Blues) – (Zamba)
An intense slide-led stomp with an Eastern sounding Dobro on a seriously rocking song.
10. Addicted to the Rush (Feenstra/Zamba)
Everything’s moving so fast, and no-one seems to pause and wonder where it’s all going. Boris infused the song with rock and roll energy, on an up tempo rocker which feels as if the whole album is rushing to the HEART OF THE CITY!!