Marc Broussard - S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul

Once upon a time, back in 1978, Whitesnake included a song called ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City’ on their Snakebite EP.  It was a resonant introduction to the work of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, and when I later heard the work of the man himself I was pretty smitten with his warm, soulful, bluesy delivery.  I’ve had a liking for voices in a rich, soul-drenched vein ever since.
All of which makes me a prime candidate to lap up the singing of Marc Broussard, when he opens up his latest album S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul with an aching, pulsing take on Bland’s ‘I’ve Got To Use My Imagination’.  Broussard absolutely nails it, and co-producer Joe

Marc Broussard - "Hey, is this mic turned on?"

Pic by J Auger

Bonamassa follows his example with a taut, evocative guitar solo.  It’s a vibe effortlessly recaptured on the closing ‘When Will I Let Her Go’, the one original on offer.
With just that one new song among the 12 tracks here, it’s fair to say that if you’re looking for something ground-breaking then step right along, ‘cause this album ain’t it.  But what might be lacking in novelty is made up for in quality.
Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson’s waltz-like ballad ‘Cuttin’ In’ is given a relaxed and romantic reading that stands comparison with the excellent version by Sean Costello, with pinging guitar licks from guest Roddie Romero played off against sweeping strings.  ‘Love, The Time Is Now’ mines an even softer soul seam just as effectively, with Broussard effortlessly evoking a Sam Cooke vibe.
It's not all sensitively lovelorn stuff though.  The spikier blues of ‘I Asked For Water’ is one of the highlights, as Broussard digs out a suitably Wolf-ish growl, counterpointed by some moaning harp courtesy of JJ Grey.  Also at the tougher end of the spectrum is ‘Locked Up In Jail (Prison Blues)’, which is as primitively low key and insistent as you might expect from a John Lee Hooker song, studded with shivering guitar from co-producer Josh Smith, and with a wearily reflective vocal from Broussard.  Meanwhile ‘I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water’ starts out easy, with tinkling piano, and laid-back guitar and vocals, it gets revved up more on the second verse, then swings and punches in big band style on the third, prefacing a jazzy, low end piano solo and some stinging guitar.  There’s a horn backdrop on ‘Driving Wheel’ too, which rolls along behind the beat in swaggering style, with Broussard getting soulful in increasingly agitated, testifyin’ fashion, and Bonamassa knocking out a solo with bite.  
There a couple of misfires, mind you.  BB King’s ‘I Like To Live The Love’ is a lightweight, happy-clappy affair that sounds as if it would be better suited to some pastel-suited 70s vocal quartet than either King or Broussard.  And while I love a good blues ‘train’ song, their efforts to do something different with the railroad rhythm on ‘Empire State Express’ actually end up a bit of a mess.
But here’s the thing.  In the PR bumf for this album, Marc Broussard says that while blues is in his wheelhouse, “It’s not really my field of expertise”.  Well, you could have fooled me.  S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul – and boy is that a cumbersome title – showcases a guy who is vocally right up there with the classic blues’n’soul groaners, moaners and crooners.  Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland would be impressed, never mind me.
 
S.O.S. 4: Blues For Your Soul is out now on KTBA Records, and can be ordered here.

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Nobody's Fool

Hook!  Hook!  Hook!
Chorus!  Chorus!  Chorus!
Hit!  Hit!  Hit!
I can imagine co-producers Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith sitting down at the end of a day’s work on Nobody’s Fool and rubbing their hands with glee at a job well done.  If Joanne Shaw Taylor’s core audience to date has been blues-rockers and guitar nuts, then this album has the potential to garner a wider variety of enthusiastic listeners.
How so?  Because this is an autumn release that’ll help you cling on to summer with its sunny-side-up soul/pop confections, that’s how.  But fear not, six-string fans, there are still lots of tasty guitar breaks to slake your thirst.
The tone is set by the title track.  If Johnnie Walker were to play 'Nobody's Fool' during his Sounds of the

Joanne Shaw Taylor - happy days are here again!

Pic by Kit Wood

Seventies radio show, you’d happily accept it was a hit from back then and just get in the groove as it chugs merrily along – and ponder just how much of a nod that sweet guitar intro gives to ‘My Sweet Lord’.
The following ‘Bad Blood’ picks up the baton perfectly with its low-twanging Hispanic guitar figure, heralding a heaven-sent chorus that’s trotted out multiple times to maximise its impact.  The attention to detail is terrific, from the lazy, right-in-the-pocket beat to the placement of the female backing vocals, to the flurries of organ.  Mind you, they miss a trick with the tubular bell that gets chimed here and there, but not often enough for me.  More tubular bells, I say!
There’s a Sixties soul sound at work there, and there’s more of it with the post-Motown vibe of the romantic ‘Won’t Be Fooled Again’, Bonamassa getting in on the act by trading spot-on solos with Taylor, but all totally in service of the song.  ‘Runaway’ is rippling, blissed-out pop to reinforce the mood, with tripping drums, sun-dappled electric guitar, rubbery bass from Calvin Turner, and a rhythmic vocal nicely delivered by Taylor.
The steady, measured ‘Just No Getting Over You (Dream Cruise)’ is carried along by a bright’n’breezy guitar riff, some tick-tocking wah-wah guitar (or perhaps clavinet) in the background, and – hey, is that a cowbell?  Meanwhile ‘Then There’s You’, a bluesier but still catchy item, struts along on layers of low-slung guitar riffing – the sort of thing you can visualise a trio of backing singers dancing along to in sinuously choreographed fashion.
They take the load off twice, both times to good effect.  ‘Fade Away’ is a total change of pace to a spare, sad slowie led by Taylor’s wistful voice and Deron Johnson’s piano, and then garlanded by cello from Tina Guo that lends an extra air of melancholy.  It’s also a lovely tune.  ‘The Leaving Kind’ is like a mash-up of a quasi-torch song and epic ballad.  It’s built around some timeless-sounding acoustic guitar chording, and ultimately a sweeping guitar solo, emoting away big time before a dying fall.  That’s where the album should have ended, fellas, instead of tacking on the upbeat ‘New Love’ afterwards, good as it is with a Motown-ish feel again.
Elsewhere, there’s also a cover of the Eurythmics’ ‘Missionary Man’ undertaken with Dave Stewart himself.  With its synthy bass sound and squelchy guitar break it’s interesting, and different from the original, but possibly the least impactful thing on the album.  The following ‘Figure It Out’ though, featuring scratchy guest guitar from Carmen Vandenberg, hits the power pop bullseye dead centre, evoking both ‘Teenage Kicks’ and The Tourists’ take on ‘I Only Want To Be With You’.  Oh yeah, and it smacks you over the head with the chorus till you submit.
In days gone by I’ve had some reservations about Joanne Shaw Taylor’s singing, and she’s still prone to a curious vowel sound now and then.  But really, full credit to her for leading from the front and capturing the spirit of this enterprise, whether on the sun-drenched upbeat material or the elegiac ‘Fade Away’.  She and the whole ensemble make Nobody’s Fool sound effortless – and very, very easy to like.
 
Nobody’s Fool is out now on KTBA Records, and can be ordered here.

Jimmy Hall - Ready Now

Once upon a time, many moons ago, Jimmy Hall was singer, harmonica and sax player with the Southern rock band Wet Willie.  They had some big hits Stateside back in the Seventies, but suffice to say their name only registers at the edge of my consciousness.  So I come to his new solo album Ready Now, produced by the increasingly busy duo of Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, with no real expectations.
Initial signs are promising, as the boogie of opening track ‘Jumpin’ For Joy’ aims to deliver a good time, and succeeds.  The guitar riffing may be pretty simplistic, but with skedaddling drums from Greg Morrow, bursts of organ and barroom piano from the ubiquitous Reese Wynans, and

Jimmy Hall checks out the bar to see if Bonamassa is getting his round in

Pic by Drew Stawin

a rock’n’rollin’ solo from Bonamassa, it’s an infectious concoction.  And Hall plays his part too, hollering away over the top like a good ‘un, and giving his harp a satisfying blast too.
For a guy in his seventies, Hall’s voice is in admirable nick, with plenty of wattage and range.  What he does with it is more of a mixed bag however.  On the following ‘Risin’ Up’, with its soulful ‘Take Me To The River’ type vibe, he gives it plenty without offering much light and shade.  The same is true on 'Ready Now' itself, a song about turning over a new leaf that all sounds a bit earnest, but is redeemed by a slide soul from Warren Haynes that carries some real cutting edge.  And if his harp solo on the song-of-the-road ‘Will You Be Here’ shows plenty of subtlety, his vocal could be more supple.
He does better elsewhere though, his urgency and power working a treat on the rocking ‘Girl’s Got Sugar’, with its hard-chugging rhythm guitar, more stonking keys from Wyman, and an excellent, ducking and diving guitar excursion from Josh Smith.  And he shows more vocal variety on both ‘Holding On For Dear Love’ and ‘Without Your Love’. The former is a soulful ballad, a bit sugary for my taste, but given extra colour by the harmonies of Jade McCrae and Dannielle De Andrea – who deserve plaudits for their contributions to several tracks – and by a funky wah-wah turn from Bonamassa.  ‘Without Your Love’ is a contemplative affair led off by acoustic guitar, with the range and dynamics of Hall’s vocal suiting the growing intensity of feeling, and the guesting Jared James Nichols adding a tasteful, nicely toned guitar solo.
With the addition of the slowie ‘A Long Goodbye’, a Bonamassa co-write, it feels to me like there’s a bit much of this balladeering tendency, but at least this one has an epic, cinematic quality that’s very JB, topped off by him throwing the kitchen sink at a showcase solo, before an anthemic refrain to close.
Other songs explore different directions, with mixed results.  ‘Dream Release’, a co-write between Hall and his son, is an elegy for his friendship with Greg Allman, but to these ears works none too well, maudlin in tone and sounding like it originated in musical theatre.  ‘Love For It’, contrastingly, is a little gem.  With its out of the ordinary percussion and bass framework, soul-gospel roots, and unusual shift in tone from verse to chorus, it may not be a barn burner, but it’s still a genuinely original song.  And Hall does a good job narrating the bluesy song of experience ‘Eyes In The Back Of Your Head’, as it ripples along on acoustic guitar, and tootling harp.
Bonamassa completists may be interested in Ready Now for his five co-writes and varied guitar contributions. Overall though, it’s an inconsistent album.  Some tracks hit the mark, but others fall a bit short, especially when they lean towards the emotive.  Throwing a bit more wit and rock’n’roll into the mix may have suited Jimmy Hall better.
 
Ready Now is out now on KTBA Records, and can be ordered here.