Mark Knopfler: Get Lucky

In terms of quantity, Knopfler’s solo output has now eclipsed his Dire Straits output. However, I don’t think many would be so quick to make the same claim for quality. It is perhaps unfair to compare Knopfler’s solo albums with his Dire Straits albums, they are essentially separate beasts, and to his credit, Knopfler has explored some different and often interesting avenues when not shackled to Dire Straits. However, in the case of Panic Crew, it seems to me that Knopfler has at times strayed into a Celtic-folk cul-de-sac.

It’s not that I’m just pinning for the rockier riffs and guitar solos of the old days, I have in fact enjoyed many of the slower more subtle pieces on his solo albums. Especially when he’s sniffing around that American Blues sound, and indeed there are some tracks on this album, such as “You Can’t Beat The House” where I am happily reminded of it.

Seasick Steve: Man From Another Time

More deft picking, sliding and stomping seems to be the only 3 ingredients needed to maintain his unique blues sound. As a big fan of last years , I Started Out With Nothing and Still Got Most Of It Left, I was delighted to hear a whole bunch more of the same.

Steve Wold sticks with his distinctive rough working class American blues that served him so well on last years breakthrough album and fascinated all those like me watching his rise to stardom courtesy of Mr Jools Holland.

The album kicks off with “Diddley Bo” played on, yes, you’ve guessed it, his one stringed Diddley Bow. A simple construction made from a wire a broom and a couple of cans with an output that defies its basic design.

“Big Green and Yeller” is a song that resonates well with me. As my dad worked for Cornwall Farmers and many of my school friends where farmers son’s, I frequently argued the superiority of a good John Deere over a Massey Ferguson, David Brown or Ford.

Black Crowes: Before The Frost

Mid 70’s southern blues rock isn’t as fashionable now as it was in say, the mid ‘70’s, so kudos indeed to the Black Crowes for refusing to kowtow to current vogues.

There is not a single sound bite on “Before The Frost” that would identify it as a contemporary album. Recording the album in Levon Helm's Woodstock barn before a special selected close audience may well sound like a simple marketing gimmick, but it adds a cosy feel, hearing a small enthusiastic crowd in between tracks. Unless that was just a way of masking the in between track brawling noises of brothers Chris and Rich Robinson going at each other like, well two brothers in a rock band.

“Good Morning Captain” gives us a boogie-woogie piano intro into a blues rock standard that sets the scene for the entire album.

My favourite track of the album, “Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love)" is a lengthy piece that gives the band the room to stray into something that sounds like a live jam with guitar, Hammond organ and harmonica taking it in turn to play the lead.

“Appaloosa” has the slow sliding guitars of an Eagles classic that slows things down again.

It may sound a little dull to the modern rock fan used to more speed and gusto, but to my ears this is perhaps their best album.

The Dead Weather: Horehound

Doesn’t Jack White just make you sick with his endless talent, energy and originality. For his latest project, Jack has decided to leave the primary guitar duties to Dean Feritita (Queens of the Stone Age) and take his place behind the drum kit. Meanwhile “little” Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs) straps on the bass and Alsion Mosshart (The Kills) assumes the position behind the microphone.

While White’s various groups all have a stiff back bone of raw blues/rock, there is a distinct flavour to each of his 3 main projects (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs & The Dead Weather). The Dead Weather seem even more deep rooted in the classic blues genre with perhaps a few punk undertones. The album has a crisp sharp feel and subtle and minimal production flowering that I suspect will make it hard to date.

“60 Feet tall” has simple blues refrains, crashing drums and blistering guitar solo’s all punctuated by atmospheric gaps. “I Cut like a Buffalo” has a keyboard chord keeping slow time behind a more freeform blues jam session and “Treat me Like Your Mother” has a corking zeppelinesque riff.

My high expectations have been met and even exceeded.

Joe Bonamassa: The Ballad of John Henry

Don’t you just love it when someone lends you a CD of someone you’ve never heard of that they think you might like, and it turns out to be a real gem? This is one such album. Joe Bonamassa may only have been born in 1977, but his blues-rock style has clearly been influenced by those eminent British Blues Rock aficionados of the late 60’s (Beck, Page, Clapton, Green, Kossof, Mayall). “The Ballad of John Henry” is in fact Bonamassa’s 9th official release, which means I have a bit of catching up to do on his back catalogue.

The title track at the top of the album sets the standard of stonking blues with its solid riff, clanking chains and string orchestration that could augment Zeppelin’s Kashmir.

After the self-penned opener, we move to a cover of Sam Brown’s 1989 classic, “Stop”. The extended outro compliments an already fabulous song with Jeff Healey like guitar work.

“The Great Flood” is a slow blues number that draws strong comparisons with Gary Moore, it builds up slowly to that crisp clean guitar solo emphasising each perfect squealing note. A return guitar solo at the end of the track is accompanied by a saxophone that would have been at home on Rogers’ “Pros and Con’s of Hitch Hiking”.

Although, I’ve only really covered 3 tracks, I could have picked on any three, as there’s no chuff on this album. Before finishing up I’ll just bandy about a few more names: Rory Gallagher, Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, Albert Collins, and Muddy Waters. If any of those names mean anything to you, then you should really check out this album.

Ry Cooder: I Flathead

Cooder’s peculiar mix of Blues and Country is probably about as American as you can possibly get. None more so than “Fernando Sez” and the story of how he’s recording some new songs in order to pay of Fernando's garage bill and get his Cadillac back.

Don Cavalli: Cryland

I frequently take a punt on an artist or album I’ve never heard off and this inevitably leads to a few misses, however those misses are more than compensated for when you get a hit like this. This album is a real gem, quite unexpected and it struck a chord with me on the very first listen. The opening track, “Gloom Uprising” has a sort of Ennio Morricone feel to it, but updated to suit a Tarrantino soundtrack rather than a Leone one. “I’m going to a River” continues with a pulsating guitar and “Aggression” adds a vocal reminiscent of Moby’s cover of “Run On”. “Here Sat I” adds some funk to classical blues lyrics. “New Hollywood Babylon” supplies a bizarre diversion with a surreal and upbeat guitar refrain but two of my favourite tracks have to be “Wonder Chairman” and “Casual Worker”, both of which have a great Cream styled late 60’s British Blues sound. This is definitely an artist who deserves a higher profile, I couldn’t find a wiki entry for him and I had to manually add the album art to my library as iTunes was unable to find it.

Seasick Steve: I started Out With Nothing and I Still Got Most Of It Left

I love the way the album opens with Steve’s southern hickey monotone accent declaring that he wrote the first song about nothing. His occasional narration and hazy introductions to tracks are reminiscent of Syd Barrett’s solo albums however it’s his bluesy guitars and homemade instruments that really sell this album. Steve Wold uses his personalised instruments to create his own take on the southern delta blues. This includes his “One Stringed Diddley Bow” and the “Mississippi Drum Machine”, a wooden box to stomp on to provide your own percussion. The songs are all beautiful blues numbers that feature quick picking and emphasis the importance of the gaps between those long sliding notes. Think of “Hats of to (Roy Harper)” from Zeppelin III and you’ll get a pretty good idea.

The Black Keys: Attack and Release

Good old fashioned Rock/Blues thankfully lives on with the Akron (Ohio) duo’s fifth studio release. None of your new fangled electronic gubbins here thank you very much, just low-fi guitar and drums with a healthy smattering of passion and talent. “Psychotic Girl” with its tumbling drums, mesmeric finger sliding guitar, plucking banjo and single digit piano plonking provides a fine example of this winning recipe.

B.B. King: One Kind Favor

At the ripe young age of 83 I will be happy if I’m still able to appreciate great blues albums, let alone be able to record them. B.B. King carved out his own peculiar blend of piano and slow guitar blues nearly 60 years ago so it’s no time to start changing direction now. With a little help from producer T. Bone Walker (Raising Sand) and of course Lucille, B.B. revisits blues classics from other blues giants.

Alabama 3: M.O.R.

The Reverend Dr D Wayne Love and his crew offer more Acid Rock Country Gospel madness. The Brixton based band continue with their unique sound but never seem to match the success of “Woke Up This Morning” (The Theme tune to the Sopranos).

The White Stripes: Icky Thump

When you buy a White Stripes album you can expect some raw riffs, pounding beats and classic blues rock. In this department, Icky Thump fulfills all my expectations. “Conquest” is a bit of a surprise though with its sort of Spanish/Mexican horns and screeching vocals. Love this album as I do, I’m still more excited about a follow up to last years Raconteurs debut.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

Despite loving this album, my greatest fear is that Alison Krauss is likely to be lynched by an angry mob of hairy arsed Zeppelin fans following the announcement of the duo touring the new album in early 2008, and thus putting a kybosh on any immediate Zeppelin tours in 2008. Although I was disappointed not to be afforded the opportunity to see the mighty Zeppelin at the O2 in December and regularly check the websites for a glimmer of hope on a possible tour, I’m still very much looking forward to seeing Percy and the American Country singer at Wembley in May. Plant rightly believes this is some of his best post Zeppelin work and understandably wants to set aside the time to promote and tour the album. Raising Sand is an elegant album that leans heavily on the major influences of its two performers, namely Blues and Country. The selection of covers, predominately I believe, chosen by album producer T. Bone Walker provide an innate late 60’s ambience to the piece. Highlights include the opening track, “Rich Woman”, with its distant sliding guitars providing the stage for Plant and Krauss’s complimenting vocals.

Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra & Friends: Small World, Big Band

This is not so much a Jools Holland album featuring a wide array of special guests as a various artists album that just happens to have Jools playing some great keyboards on each track. I especially like the photographs on the inside cover; they feature a series of snapshots of Jools with his arm around, or stood next to, each of his guest artists. It looks rather like the scrapbook of a fortunate tourist who bumped into a few celebrities on his travels. It's quite a nifty little marketing trick too. As the album features tracks by many big name artists like Sting, Paul Weller, Van Morrison, Mick Hucknall and Eric Clapton to name but a few, the fans of these artists are just going to have to add this album to their bulging collections too. The 22 track CD makes it jolly good value but restricts me to selecting a few choice contributors. "Horse to Water" written and performed by George Harrison has that big band feel and its prominent brass and strong backing vocals would allow it sound quite at home on the soundtrack to the Blues Brothers. "The Hand that Changed It's Mind" written by Holland and Malcolm John Rebennack (A.K.A. Dr John) has the traditional New Orleans Jazz style associated with Dr. John and features his distinctive deep-south voodoo vocals. "I put a Spell on You" featuring Mica Paris and David Gilmour is great reworking of this classic little ditty and possibly my favourite track on the album. It starts with a classical orchestral arrangement providing the backing to some blues piano and the diva herself in full swing. It soon develops to feature even more corking blues guitar, piano and vocals. I imagine it would be pretty impressive to hear some of this material live, but if you can't get tickets to the current tour, this recording is the next best thing

B.B. King and Eric Clapton: Riding With The King

If "The Blues" is what fluffs your pigeon then is album is going to be right up your street. It contains mostly new material and a couple of old standards. Although they have played together before, this is the first time these two blues and rock legends have joined forces to produce a whole album and the combination works as well as expected. The album starts off with the title track, and sets a high standard, which the remainder of the album struggles to keep up with. The album is riddled with trademark vocals and guitars from both prime contributors and anybody familiar with either of their work would have no problems in identifying them. The second track "Ten Long Years" also stands out from many of the other tracks, and its traditional blues piano makes it sound more like a King song than a Clapton song. Clapton adds perhaps a little more rock than a solo King album might have had, which helps to give the album a little more variety and balance. Of course it would not be acceptable to release a blues album without at least one of the tracks being called "something Blues", and the vibrant duo happily oblige with the excellent "3 o’ Clock Blues". The re-working of "Worried Life Blues" also fulfilling the required naming convention doesn’t however compare with the old Animals version. This is very much an album of a particular genre and most people are therefore likely to love it or hate it. My only disappointment was the absence of a lyric along the lines of "Woke up this morning and my woman was gone, she’d shot my dog, crashed my car and peed on the carpet", but maybe that’s just my false expectations.