Apologies on this one folks. This album has been out for a while and despite being delivered through the letterbox rather than into the inbox, it got shuffled to the bottom of the pile. Anyway, it’s so good that I had to tell you about it. Better late than never, and it’s now the first Music Riot review of 2023.

The Boneshakers, led by world-renowned former Was (Not Was) guitarist Randy Jacobs, and now fronted by singer Jenny Langer (channelling Janis Joplin and Tina Turner), are celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary in 2022, sixteen years since the release of their last album. The list of megastars that the band members have worked and played with, live and in the studio, is almost endless and covers a huge variety of musical styles. ‘One Foot in the Groove’ isn’t so much a new album as a celebration of the artists and styles that have influenced The Boneshakers sound over the years. They’ve also called in a few guest appearances to add a few more colours to the tonal palette. More about that later.

Of the ten tracks on ‘One Foot in the Groove’, only two are originals, Randy Jacobs’ ‘Powerful Notions’ which closes the album and the Jacobs/Jenny Langer co-write, ‘Big Legged Man’. The remainder are mainly lesser-known songs, with the exception of The Stones’ ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’. They’re delivered in soul/blues/funk stylings that seem to be almost effortless because of the quality of the musicians involved. These guys can play.

‘Ain’t Got the Fever No More’ is a good example of the type of song covered on the album. The song was written by Steven Van Zandt for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ second album ‘This Time It’s for Real’. The Boneshakers stick to the mid-tempo shuffle of the original but take it in a more bluesy direction. This may be a coincidence, it may not, but former Juke and E Street Band trumpet player Mark Pender guests on this song along with Joe Sublett of the Texicali Horns. The other guest appearance is by Stones’ backing singer Bernard Fowler on ‘I Forgot to Be Your Lover’ and, of course, ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’. Let’s not forget Was (Not Was) legend Sir Harry Bowens, who appears on half of the songs on the album.

The album’s opener sets the tone for what’s to come. ‘Mr Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ is built around a slow groove with funky guitar, horns and Hammond and Jenny Langer’s raw vocal. From here on in, the funk runs through the album whether it’s blues (‘Big Legged Man’), soul (‘I Forgot to be Your Lover’) or jazz-tinged (‘Powerful Notions’). The combination of smooth playing and powerful vocals makes this an album that’s impossible to ignore. Turn it up to eleven.

‘One Foot in the Groove’ is out now on Take it to The Bridge Records.

Here’s a quick snippet from the ‘Making of…’ video for the album:

If you only ever listen to chart radio (and maybe watch “Later” every week) then the chances are that you won’t have heard of Paul Rose. I can’t imagine that you would hear him on 6 Music either.  You might just get lucky with Paul Jones on Radio 2 on the right night.  Paul Rose, like many other incredibly gifted players here and in the US, is a blues/rock guitarist and, from a commercial point of view, that’s a really difficult place to be at the moment.  There’s a small but knowledgeable and enthusiastic live circuit in the UK and mainland Europe, but almost no chance of mainstream radio exposure or shelf space in the few remaining record shops.  You have to admire the commitment of the musicians who carry on playing that circuit and releasing albums; they aren’t doing it for the Ferrari.

Paul Rose has released 11 albums before “Double Life” and has built up a reputation as a powerful live performer whose style is basically blues/rock with elements of jazz and soul and maybe a hint of country; this album shows hints of all of those styles.  What’s certain to me is that he’s a guitar virtuoso and that always brings its own little set of problems, which I’ll get to a bit later. The album is a set of blues/jazz standards performed almost live in the studio over 15 days by a group of incredibly talented and experienced musicians including Randy Jacobs (rhythm guitar), Richie Morales (drums), Kenny Hutchison (bass) and Tio Banks (keyboards).  The singers featured are Terry Evans, Raffia Ford, Bernard Fowler and Sweet Pea Atkinson.  Now I’m not doing all the work for you here, but Bernard Fowler has been the Stones backing vocalist for as long as I can remember and Sweet Pea Atkinson was the singer with my favourite incarnation of Was (Not Was).

So, how does it sound?  It sounds great actually; the band work together well through the variety of styles on the album from the riff-based rockers “Cold Sweat” and “Honey Hush” which open the album through the mid-tempo, soulful “Let’s Straighten it Out” and “Drowning in a Sea of Love” (with a bit of a Robert Cray feel), the soul ballad “If Loving You is Wrong I Don’t Want to be Right” to the slow blues of “Stormy Monday” which closes the album.  There are plenty of reference points and influences; “If Loving You is Wrong…” has a Stones feel with the intertwined guitar intro, while “Just a Little Bit” reminds me of the Albert Collins song “Conversation with Collins”.

Most of the songs here have been covered so many times that you shouldn’t expect to hear any truly novel interpretations, but that isn’t the aim of the album.  It’s about a group of musicians playing songs they know and love, having fun and producing a record that’s great to listen to while showcasing the musicians at their best.  And that leads us on to my only little criticism.

When you can play as well as Paul Rose (and I did use the word virtuoso earlier), it’s easy to miss the line between great playing in the service of the song and technique for the sake of technique.  On “Stormy Monday”, the slow blues style lends itself to guitar fills at the end of each of vocal line, which works really well for most of the song but, for me, becomes a bit intrusive at times, particularly when Paul uses violinning.  As always, this is completely subjective and I’m prepared to be shot down in flames if loads of you contact us and say I’m talking out of my elbow.

With that very minor exception, I think this is a very, very good album.  The quality of the playing is exceptional throughout, the arrangements are superb and each of the singers is perfect for the songs they do.  If you like blues, then you should have this album in your collection and even if you don’t, you should give it a listen.  If you want to know what they band’s live show is like, keep an eye on MusicRiot next week when I’ll be reviewing their London Jazz Café gig.

“Double Life” is released on Mita Records on Monday May 29.