After a trio of cracking latter day albums starting in 2013 with ‘Beautiful Curse’ which was swiftly followed by 2014’s ‘Black Eyed Sons’ and 2015’s ‘St Cecilia and the Gypsy Soul’ The Quireboys latest foray 2016’s ‘Twisted Love’ didn’t quite do it for me and so a reboot with a Blues covers album might just be what the doctor ordered. After all that ‘back to where it all began’ approach has worked for so many bands in the past.
As a long term fan I was intrigued, a little hesitant I’ll admit, but listening to ‘White Trash Blues’ (an idea sparked at the Ramblin’ Man Fair) I’m of the firm opinion that this could well be a masterstroke…
Opening with a track like ‘Cross Eyed Cat’ (surely ‘Crosseyed Cat’) of course is a good start in itself: not only is it from Muddy Waters best album of the 70’s and in my humble opinion one of the best Blues albums of all time ‘Hard Again’ it’s also a song that not everyone is going to be familiar with and that’s part of the beauty of this release – mixing the obvious sections with the more, shall we say epicurean.
That eclectic selection of songs of course is only part of why the album works. The other components are the wonderful musicianship and the treatment of the material – there’s plenty of honesty here, plenty of reverence but there’s also a willingness to take the standards and reinterpret them, paint them different shades, mix them up – indeed just like it’s always been with The Blues.
Best of all though is perhaps the consistency, it’s hard to play favourites here. The Muddy Waters opener of course stands out for me but there’s also the brilliance of material from John Lee Hooker (a bold take on the standard ‘Boom Boom’), Chuck Berry (the dirty groove of ‘Little Queenie’), Jimmy Reed (a splendid loose take on ‘Take Out Some Insurance’) and Billy Boy Arnold (a nice and funky ‘I Wish You Would’).
Elsewhere it’s cuts like Taj Mahal’s ‘Leaving Trunk’ that bring a great big grin to your face: it’s a song which musically suits the band to a tee. ‘Shame Shame Shame’ originally by Jimmy Reed though might just take the overall prize with its huge shot of rhythm and blues – to be honest it sounds just like the sort of song The Faces loved to play, and like The Faces before them the Quireboys make this their own.
Nice one!
White Trash Blues – is out on 5th September 2017
Track listing: Cross Eyed Cat | Boom Boom | I wish you would | Take Out Some Insurance | Going Down | Help Me | Shame Shame Shame | Im Your Hoochie Coochie Man | Leaving Trunk | I’m a King Bee | Walking The Dog | Little Queenie
