Kit Simmonds And Savoy Brown

Savoy Brown is one of those names that everyone of a certain age will have seen in their youth but the current line-up sounds as if they have mellowed but kept the soul and heart of the original.

Kim Simmonds is a superb guitarist and he is ably abetted by Pat DeSalvo on bass and Garnet Grimm on drums playing Blues of many different styles but with the sound of Simmonds early Epiphone Emperor 6 string dominating, it’s sweet tone a very different on to the Strats and Gibsons that still proliferate.

The opener, ‘Ain’t Got Nobody’, shows exactly what a slow Blues should be with Simmonds guitar playing a slow and sad lament and his vocal dark and wistful with an underlying growl of desire for a lost lover.
Moving straight into ‘Bad Weather Brewing’ you get a totally different side to the band – very much like early (Green & Spencer) Fleetwood Mac – pacey and with staccato riffing from Simmonds alongside his rough edged vocals. DeSalvo’s bass is super, fluid and carrying a classic Blues melody.

This is a band that isn’t afraid to play classic Blues forms – quite the opposite, it revels in them, from the boogie of ‘Oh Rosa’ featuring Simmonds harmonica to the Texas styled ‘Stop Throwing Your Love Around’ or ‘Snakin’ taking the shuffling Blues and ‘I’ve Been Drinking’ showing off Simmonds slide abilities.

It’s nothing you haven’t heard before but it is damn fine Blues and time after time it hits the spot like good Blues should. Lovely to hear then still carrying the torch.