Artist: Bonamassa, Joe
Label: Provogue Records
Release: 2010
Duration: 53.12
Rating: 4/5
Joe Bonamassa’s new album once again comes with a colorful bundle of qualities we’ve already heard. On “Black Rock” the young gun serves up clearly drawn strokes of skilled songwriting, which, as a rule, are boldly slathered in old-school rock-flavored arrangement grease. Sonically, compared to “The Ballad Of John Henry” (RockLine review here), it has noticeably gained in organic feel. You quickly notice that, sound-wise, Bonamassa has moved his source of inspiration into the 70s. The musician’s recognizable message is of course still there, but this time the job of brightening up the overall sound falls more squarely to some beautifully growling Hammonds, plus a pile of exotic props, such as the bouzouki or mandolin. All of which hints that Joe Bonamassa is still growing as an artist. Of course he is, since at 32 retirement is still a long way off.
Before we start pouring praise on the kid, let’s get a minus or two out of the way. Joe Bonamassa still goes at funk rock experiments rather clumsily, especially if you think about how successful artists like Richie Kotzen, Philip Sayce or, of course, Glenn Hughes are in that department. The heavily shackled opener of the album almost seems to show up purely to confirm that fact. “Steal Your Heart Away” quickly plunges into a vehement cranking of the funk rock machinery, but under the weight of its own tightness it soon gets lost in a monotonous shuffle of cookie-cutter rhythmic patterns that are simply too artificial and unnatural for anyone to enjoy carefree. But watch out! Joe switches tracks around the next corner. The clumsily stomping blues rock number “I Know a Place” shows a completely different side of the guitarist. This is where the album catches that real turning moment, which doesn’t let us out of its grip until the blue-eyed heartbreaker “Bird On a Wire”. Bonamassa’s playing gets more and more ravenous, and it often seems like he’s let off the leash and happily charging in one go, no thinking, between the pillars of all these differently built compositions. That guarantees a fever pitch. “When The Fire Hits The Sea” deftly stacks tongue-lashing slide playing and listenable ambience on the undercarriage of a rolling basic rhythm into a contagious musical story, minus the “for select listeners only” label. Toward the end of the album, the favorite “Blue and Evil” nonchalantly drops that very service just in case. It’s definitely the sharpest moment on the record, after which “Black Rock” spontaneously unwinds into a contrasting, relieving finish. Thrilling!
Joe dares to go a step further into the “unknown”. Wanting to cleanse the blues of the stifling pomposity of modern performance and production approaches, and armed with the idea of getting as close as possible to its starting point, the old dog enlisted the services of the one and only B.B. King. The borrowed Willie Nelson classic “Night Life”, which the duo handled so kindly, is easily the biggest surprise of the album, an unexpected but very welcome move outside the so-called “comfort zone” of Bonamassa’s previous albums. Joe is no less convincing in the execution of Beck’s “Spanish Boots”, and the fleeting revival of the Otis Rush standard “Three Times a Fool” gets similar treatment, as does “Look Over Yonders Wall”, a performance that radiates a depth of character which, without any annoying flattery, scares the hell out of most of his blues contemporaries. The brutally simple delivery of a spicy, sharply carved and authoritative guitar tone is awe-inspiring in its spontaneous pulse and effortlessness.
“Black Rock” is the right answer to the, frankly, justified criticism that has piled up over the years around his so-called status as the king of blues for a new era. You could say this is a turning point in Bonamassa’s career, where the guitarist cemented his reputation as the flag-bearer of a new generation of blues rock, while also managing to keep the traditional values of the blues within reach. So along the way he’ll surely pick up some sympathy from those die-hard fans of the genre who, as a rule, have been clinically dead for decades.
Lineup
Joe Bonamassa: vocals, guitar
David Woodford: saxophone
Lee Thornburg: horns
Rick Melick: keyboards
Carmine Rojas: bass
Bogie Bowles: drums
Anton Fig: drums
Production
Kevin Shirley
Tracklist
1. Steal Your Heart Away
2. I Know A Place
3. When The Fire Hits The Sea
4. Quarryman’s Lament
5. Spanish Boots
6. Bird On A Wire
7. Three Times A Fool
8. Night Life
9. Wandering Earth
10. Look Over Yonders Wall
11. Athens To Athens
12. Blue And Evil
13. Baby You Gotta Change Your Mind
