Reviewed by James Attlee

The Bootleg album is heavier on cover versions, picked with impeccable taste.  Elmore James, T-Bone Walker, Blind Blake are all given the Blues Band treatment.  Hear Paul Jones almost convince himself, as well as a live audience, that he was born in the Mississippi Delta during his hard-luck rap on the Willie Mabon song "I Don't Know".  Original material fits pretty seamlessly into the groove - I particularly enjoyed Gary Fletcher's "Green Stuff" and Paul Jones' "Hold On" on 'Ready'. On the latter Jones demonstrates what a fine exponent of R&B harmonica he is. Dake Kelly's slide guitar playing is superb throughout and the whole band are effortlessly tight in a loose kind of way. that only comes from burning up several thousand miles of motorway. These recordings are ten years old, but could be 20 - therefore probably about to become fashionable. Limited, you might say. Predictable. I'd say, within the genre, near perfect.  Boom Boom (out go the lights).

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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