Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The one who owns a reckless heart has all the qualities in the world to be proud to unveil The Blues Album.
Once an artist has shown you their heart, you will forever be spellbound by their performance and fascinated by their acknowledgement of the blues within their soul; and that is certainly true of Britain’s premier 21st Century Blues player, Joanne Shaw Taylor, for in the simplicity of the recognition of her latest album’s title, lays behind it the pulse of a soul that truly has immersed itself into the hearts of those, regardless of their affiliation to other genres, who find themselves awestruck by her tenacity, her fierce, sheer unquenchable flame that illuminates her every move on her beloved guitar.
The follow up to the 2019 critically acclaimed album, Reckless Heart, sees the first lady of modern British Blues, along with great support from Josh Smith, Reese Wynans, Greg Morrow, Steve Mackey, Steve Patrick, Mark Douthit, Barry Green, and the legendary Joe Bonamassa and Mike Farris as special guests, tackle with huge success tracks from a different time, a place where the Blues in Britain was at its initial peak, and even when in the eyes pf some it lost its cool, whilst never losing its edge.
Not so much as considered to be covers, more as a love letter of appreciation from one generation to another, Joanne Shaw Taylor sought out indisputable gems and placed them on a chain that mere kings could not wear, but which the fan, the devote of the genre is able to gaze upon the performance and hear the sounds of elegance flourish in the raw reality of life.
Across tracks such as Fleetwood Mac’s Stop Messin’ Round, Little Milton’s If That Ain’t A Reason, the inspired originally performed Albert King track Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me, two sublime tracks written by Don Covey in I Don’t Know What You’ve Got and Three Time Loser and the Maurice Dollinson beauty of Let Me Down Easy, the sentimental reasons for making the album are overshadowed by the impeccable understanding to which the guitar player has sought out and delivered with style, with unrelenting panache and spirit.
We pay homage to those that paved the way, who made it possible for us to be who we are, and from the reckless heart comes love, from that lengthy chain of intricate belief, comes pride and joy, and Joanne Shaw Taylor thrives in limelight that The Blues Album provides.
Ian D. Hall