Reviews roundup – Samantha Fish vs. James Litherland vs. Sam Kelly’s Station House

Reviews roundup – Samantha Fish vs. James Litherland vs. Sam Kelly’s Station House

SAMANTHA FISH
Belle Of The West
Ruf

Blimey! Ms Fish isn’t hanging about. It was only 8 months ago that “Chills & Fever”, recorded members of the band The Detroit Cobras, came out and now she’s reunited with Luther Dickinson, producer of her 2015 release Wild Heart” for another release.

Luckily the quality isn’t impaired by the quantity and this may be her finest recording to date as she explores a variety of roots sounds, although all remain grounded in the blues. There’s a swamp feeling to a lot of the music, which when mixed with some Delta sounds makes for a compelling listening experience.

For sure a couple of the Americana styled songs lack a little, with th elikes of ‘Need You More’ passing without making an impact. But with the emphasis on her vocals more than the guitars most of the tunes are built for repeat plays. There are plenty of highlights with ‘Blood In The Water’ and the heartfelt ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’ top of the pops round my way after the first few spins. Most of the album is self penned but the outstanding take on R.L. Burnside’s ‘Poor Black Mattie’, with Lightnin’ Malcolm on lead vocal, shows that she can bring out the best in other peoples material just as well. It’s a step further away from her blues rock roots but one well worth taking with her.

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JAMES LITHERLAND
Back ‘n Blue
Confidential Records

Here’s a blast from the past. Mr Litherland was a founder member of sixties proggers Colosseum before going on to record with the likes of Long John Baldry, Bandit and the legend that is Sir Leo Sayer.

He’s put out a couple of solo albums over the years as well, and this one is his latest. And very enjoyable it is too. To be fair, don’t come here if you’re looking for the sturm and drang of “Those Who Are About to Die Salute You” but if you’ve got a penchant for the kind of light blues purveyed by mid seventies Eric Clapton and mid eighties Chris Rea then this is a good place to be.

It’s the latter that is the real template for what’s going on with some heartfelt vocals and some delicious slide guitar. Tunes like ‘Miss You Blues’ will keep the, um, blues fans happy while ‘Unconditional Love’ has Radio 2 playlist written all over it. Granted, it made me weep like a bairn but that’s where I am right now. He’s brought in some exceptional supporting musicians to flesh things out where needed and old metalheads like me will be delighted to hear the drums of Mr Les Binks. There is a verve and vigour on songs like ‘At Least I Didn’t Bore You’ and ‘Pink Corvette’ that is quite enlivening and, look, I got all this way without mentioning his son or his Ivor Novello Award. Damn…

BUY AT AMAZON

SAM KELLY’S STATION HOUSE
No Barricades
Roxbro Records

This is an odd cove.

See, Sam Kelly is a drummer. He doesn’t write or sing the songs. In fact, half of the songs here were written by the late and (fairly) obscure bluesman T W Henderson. If you’re interested all seven of his songs here can be found on his own “The Wilderness Years” release.

Kelly himself is a veteran who’s worked with Gary Moore, Dr John, Ben E. King, Robert Plant, Gordon Haskell, Billy Ocean, Eddie Floyd, Roger Chapman, Mick Ralphs, Paul Jones, Imelda May and countless others over the years as well as being a founding member of seventies funkateers Cymande. So he’s certainly got the chops. And those chops take him all over the shop from blues to funk to reggae in association with an aggregation of musicians. I say that because the core band – Paul Jobson (keys/vocals), Richard Sadler (bass) , Tong Qunta (guitar/vocals) and Jerome Marcus (percussion/backing vocals), and Rowena Poole (vocals) sounds so different from song to song that it’s hard to think of them as a band.

So the blues of ‘Howl Into The Midnight’ is followed by the reggae of ‘Little Big Men’. The latter is, of course, that well known subset of reggae, namely that written and performed by an Australian white man! Multicultural doesn’t even begin to describe it. Thing is, the band are really good at whatever they do, but casual listeners probably want to know where to hang their hat. My favourites are probably the Keb’ Mo’ cover ‘Standin’ At The Station’ and ‘Texas Special’, the latter of which really works well with its funky makeover. It’s certainly an interesting album but good luck buying it, as even his own website seems to be lacking that piece of crucial information

http://www.sam-kelly.co.uk/

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St Columba’s Hospice Tribute Fund for Linda Hamilton
http://linda.hamilton.muchloved.com/
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