Giles Robson is one of the UK’s most highly rated Blues musicians and his harmonica has graced many of the Blues top stars as well as producing some stunning solo work.
This album, cunningly containing 9 original Blues songs, all written by Robson, is another superb example of how ostensible simplicity can have depth and complexity – showing how ‘simple’ Blues music has for a hundred years managed to be both familiar and fresh at the same time. Robson is accompanied by Manny Fizzotti on guitar and that is it, just vocal, harmonica and guitar. The production is spare and each instrument has space to play. Robson’s vocals are ok – British accent but tuneful – but it is his harmonica playing that sets the hair on the back of your neck vibrating. His symbiotic playing with Manny Frizzotti is a delight, the guitar simple and allowing the harmonica to shine brightly.
The songs are strong, common Blues themes of love and sex and booze and combinations of the three, all very listenable to and if they had Muddy Waters or Memphis Slim’s name and vocals, they would all be classics. But always, go back that wonderful harmonica. Listen to the album time and again and find new rills and different techniques. Tracks like ‘Me & My Righteous Girl’ or ‘Never Too Clever For The Blues’ are buoyed up by his harp playing. ‘The G.R. Shuffle’ is all about the harmonica playing but Fizzotti playing a hard 12 bar riff under the harmonica gives it all context and meaning. My favourite track has to be ‘Blues For Joe Louis Walker’ – slow Blues played with sublime touch and a ‘just-so’ punctuation.
Overall, a real delight, and for a Blues afficionado, an absolute must.
One side note. Try if you can, to listen on a proper stereo system. PC speakers and Alexa’s sound ‘OK’ but the music really comes alive when played on even a reasonably cheap hi-fi.
