Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
A personal truth revealed is a Crown restored, and a series of introspective declarations are the jewels that sit atop and give that crown its definition, its shape, the depth of feeling, not for atonement, but of apology to the soul; for burdened is the head that wears the crown, and in honesty the feeling of integrity relieves the pain upon the wearer, the possessor of the polished metal garland is redeemed, and the soul is lightened.
Alongside the sublime Robert Cray and Walter Trout, Eric Gales is the personification of the enduring Blues that survived the often talked of downturn in the fortunes of genre as the 20th Century began to wind down, as its place at the top of musical expression began to crumble; and if not for the likes of Eric Gales, then the new wave, the pioneers of young expression that included Joe Bonamassa, Samantha Fish, Joanne Shaw Taylor, and a whole host of enlightened musicians, the world in the last twenty years would not only have been dull, simmering in beige, but ultimately the genre could arguably and easily have died out, become all but extinct.
Eric Gales is a star, bonafede, dedicated, outrageously cool, and plays as if the heart and the guitar are one and the same organ, pumping the same blood, the same beat dictating the passionate response, and the soft glide of a lover’s hand as it massages the occasional broken moment, the belief in the stroke of the downhearted, the melancholic and discouraged; all these truths are open to suggestion, to reinforced structures and beliefs, and all because Eric Gales understands perfectly on how human nature can be manipulated in the wrong hands and how in tackling certain subjects what is achievable is reconciliation.
To wrestle for control of the crown, especially when it is your own, takes supreme courage, it takes audacity of spirit, and a fair amount of respect for oneself; for in that fight comes a certain portrayal of how you wish to be seen, metaphorically naked, cleansed, washed of all that once held you possibly back; and in Crown, Eric Gales doesn’t just wrestle for control, he exemplifies the beauty of respect for one’s own craft, one’s belief, one’s journey, and no matter the deviations from the path, no matter how you may feel that your tale has been sacrificed in the name of other’s whisperings, the crown is still yours, it still fits perfectly.
As tracks such as The Storm, Stand Up, Survivor, You Don’t Know The Blues, Too Close To The Fire, My Own Best Friend, Take Me Just As I Am, which features LaDonna Gales, and I Want My Crown which involves his old friend and album’s producer Joe Bonamassa, all growl with the fierceness of a lion standing off against the ineptitude and graceless life of the poacher, what comes across is responsibility, a openness of vulnerability, a reconciliation with the past, for it is in that past that these songs have had the belief to stand tall, to place Eric Gales once more on the throne of the Blues and with the majesty of music and life bestowed upon him once more.
Crown is not just an expression of life, it is mark of energy being seen from space, and one that the listener will never tire of being in its company.
Eric Gales releases Crown on January 28th on Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group.
Ian D. Hall