Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The one thing you can be sure of listening to The Midnight Ramble’s new album is that throughout the three new songs on offer and the elegantly captured live set is they don’t consider this in any way to be a ramble, a quiet stroll or saunter on a summer’s day taking in the sights after what has been a long cold winter in search of that elusive sunshine. High Time/Live is a statement, a jive on the promenade, an exertion of sound that mocks a sub four minute mile as being too slow and dull.

Following on from the band’s exceptional Sink The Pieces album, Paul Dunbar and his troupe of extraordinary musicians bring their fusion of brass and blues together to record three new songs, the incredible Southpaw Billy, Last Thing On My Mind and the title track High Time are an immense precursor to what can only be described as a dream of a live set in which many bands venture but few can frame as well as this.

The deftness, the assured and measured way in which Sink The Pieces was recorded is transferred easily and with a certain amount of pride in the band’s craft to this live sound. The production, of which could easily be lost with the amount of people and their instruments vying for the affection of the audience and in which some groups throughout the long years have had trouble with, is first rate. The band and co-producer Matt Groves should be brimming with joy and more than a touch enthusiastic by the end result.

With the three songs from the opening section of the album making their way into the live opus, the other five songs sit comfortably and with unwavering conviction amongst them. The great pull of Black Dirt, the tremendous sound of Ballad Of Four Eyes and Lions prime examples of what can be done with a live recorded set, the balance between exquisite performance and entertaining joy is exactly right. A triumph for The Midnight Ramble, one of many Liverpool bands that throws themselves in the deed of carrying the studio feel onto a live recording, and a pleasurable way to lose yourself in the sunlight for.

Ian D. Hall