Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The world may be getting smaller but in terms of its output and the sheer abundance of music that comes forth on a daily basis, the expanse is such that it may be considered hard for many to keep up with what’s new, what’s available and what is to be seen as the dog’s own business.

For Blues that maxim is surely as true as it will rain at some point during the week and that the genre doesn’t get the ringing endorsement it is surely due in a world more and more obsessed with television programmes churning out singers who within the wink of a cameraman’s eye will be forgotten and mislabelled in years to come.

However, coming on the back of Krossborder Rekords much lauded The Best Of British Blues which appeared unsuspectingly on the Blues Listening public in January 2014, its long awaited and hugely anticipated sequel, The Best Of British Blues Kompilation Vol 2, sees more generous offerings from those that might get swept away under the maelstrom of such tremendous output from the more established acts on the circuit.

With 16 artists and acts on offer, the chance to add to the maelstrom is high upon the agenda, and rightly so. The music is, as should be expected, of the highest quality possible, and comes with the added bonus of being a set of songs to sink the Blues fangs hard and fast into. Nowhere does this action feel more appropriate in Liverpool favourite Jo Bywater’s delivery with Silence Changed, the outstanding Andy Twyman track I Eat Pot Noodle With A Plastic Fork, Dr A’S Rhythm & Grooves How They Turn and The Mighty Boss Cats’ frankly enjoyable and tantalising I Need A Friend, all of whom typify the great resurgence that has been going on in recent years in the appreciation of Blues.

The world turns, its speed generated seemingly by the abundance of fresh new music readily available as more turn to realism and dream like quality offered by the well played note and vocally important, for British Blues, that world thankfully gets larger and more abundant every day and The Best Of British Blues Kompilation Vol 2 exemplifies that.

Ian D. Hall