Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The 100 Club in London may be the scene of many a clandestine gig that has caught the music lovers of the city unawares over the years but one name certainly caught the attention of the audience when she performed there. Thankfully now it is a gig that can be heard for what it was in the new release, Live In London, one of sublime entertainment and guitar to fuel the passion of 21st Century Blues whilst paying homage to the true greats of the previous century.
Erja Lyytinen’s name might not be one that trips off the tongue that easily in certain circles of the U.K. press or indeed of the flourishing resurgence in the interested audience of the Blues since it found new heroes in which to laud and covet and away from the quagmire that was enveloping the scene in the period after the golden and silver ages of the genre. However, she is one hell of a guitar player who really captures the mood of bringing both the modern and the gracious past together in one fell swoop. In much the same way that Joe Bonamassa has paved a way through the divide of the generational shift, so too does Erja Lyytinen.
To blur the boundaries and pay homage is one thing, to do it with grace, style and feminine wit is quite another. If there is one thing that comes across completely in the live excursion is that female innate desire to prove, quite rightly, that no matter the genre, no matter the arc of music being performed, it is the person deep down inside that carries the day. The music is an innocent bystander to be protected and nurtured, and with her defining slide guitar ability, there are few that can match that nurturing ability of the Blues.
Accompanied by Davide Floreno, Roger Inniss, Miri Mlettinen and Helkki Kervinen, the songs, which includes tracks such as Let It Shine, Hand In Hand, a perfect version of Grip of the Blues, Change of Season and the fantastic The Sky Is Crying sound sweet, well proportioned and as if the mantle of one generation’s sublime efforts were being praised by an equal. It is the musical equivalent of a ragged old professor, dust collecting on every shelf and the years dragging him down, suddenly finding youthful vigour after reading a student’’s debut essay.
For Erja Lyytinen this live offering confirms what the studio album The Sky Is Falling set out to do, that Erja Lyytinen is the Queen of Scandinavian Blues, long may she reign and not just in London.
Erja Lyytinen’s Live in London is released on Monday June 8th via Tuohi Records.
Erja Lyytinen performs at the Chester Blues Festival on Saturday 17th October 2015, for tickets book online at www.chesterbluesfestival.co.uk.
Ian D. Hall