King King

There is a place of shame for all reviewers who approach an album having already decided what they are going to say. King King are an excellent example of why you shouldn’t.

Their albums have sold in awesome quantities, I have seen the boys – if memory serves – six times and I suspect many others have too (their gigs are always packed when I’m there) so I cued the album up thinking “so what can they show me I haven’t already heard?”.
Truth is that they aren’t showing anything new but this captures them at their absolute best, in front of a Glasgow audience and playing with as much fun and skill as anyone could wish for.

They are a superlative Blues band, imbued with some deep soul in their backgrounds and all four of them have been around the block time and again. King King represents a coming together of a band of brothers and the music shows that on track after track.

Anyone into Blues knows about Alan Nimmo – he’s won enough Blues awards – and that bellow is coupled with a brilliant drummer/percussionist in Wayne Proctor (Hall of Famer). Lindsay Coulson’s sinuous basslines and Bob Fridzema’s keyboards make them much much more than a typical Blues band.

Just about every track on the album – for any other band – would be the standout point of their set.
Opening with ‘Lose Control’ and bringing every element of the band into focus immediately – a Stones-like groove with belting vocals and some gorgeous guitar from Nimmo and Fridzema’s piano tinkling and then into ‘Wait On Time’, rollicking rhythm and groove.
‘Waking Up’ has the audience clapping along and a wonderful sense of funk about the track with Coulson’s bass throbbing alongside Proctor’s metronomic hammer. Fridzema’s reedy organ in the background just takes it to another place.
And then to the first of the anthems – ‘Rush Hour’. A truly classic Blues/rock ballad. Intense and vaulting in sound, building and holding the crowd rapt.

For almost any other band that would be the peak of their set. The one before you announce the band members and then mutter “You’ve been great” before playing ‘the hit’. Not King King. They follow with ‘A Long History Of Love’ and take the crowd to another peak. Alan Nimmo’s guitar solo is just exquisite, reminiscent of Gary Moore at his absolute best, and proving you don’t need to shred the guitar to get to the crowd’s emotional heart.

Even after that it doesn’t drop off. The band hit peak after peak including a tribute to Alan’s brother Stevie Nimmo ‘You Stopped The Rain’ and my personal favourite ‘Jealousy’ which shows just why Alan Nimmo is so well regarded as a vocalist – not just power but subtlety too.

King King work the crowd like a toy but they are always just giving them more and more of the good stuff and what this album captures is the sheer power and class of the band as well as their sensitivity and depth. True class.