Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is the sense of loyalty to the genre that comes across in absolute spades in the music of Wily Bo Walker that makes the charisma of magic and the spectral allure so fascinating. The mixture between the magnetic offering and the high end cool that struts its stuff between the bars as if walking down a cat walk in the very best of ordinary clothes but illuminated by the sheer swagger and control is not unobserved and as Wily Bo Walker parades with great affection through the album Moon Over Indigo, the eternal spotlight is very much on him.
To be big and bold in an album is to be expected, to be able to carry it off with verve is perhaps always an unexpected bonus’ it has the all benefit of being invited out on a monster night out but without the headache the following morning, an hour or so in the company of Wily Bo Walker is to forget the troubles and to find yourself in a different groove.
Moon Over Indigo relates arguably because of the undercurrent provided by the band and in the likes of Keith Mack on guitar, the great Mark Gatz on saxophone and the wonderful backing vocals of Karena K, who also joined him on the sublime A Long Way From Heaven album released in January, the music’s mood is not only gripping, pulsating like an overactive heartbeat, it is dark, mysterious and beautifully buoyant; it is heady cocktail and one that slides easily from studio to the ear without breaking sweat.
When you play with a devil you don’t engage in small talk, the conversation should be at least entertaining and in songs such as Walking With The Devil, which features the robust allure of Graham Hine, Walk in Chinese Footsteps, the haunting When The Angels Call Your Time and the gracious Jenny (Traces In My Arms) that conversation is a blast, it is out of control and every bit as sexy as coming home from work and finding a message telling you to get down to your favourite restaurant and make sure you wear your best leather for the gig afterwards; some memories just stir the mind more than others.
A very cool album and one that completes a trilogy of great releases by Wily Bo Walker in 2015!
Ian D. Hall