Category: Reviews

RHODES – Toothpaste (Single)

Hertfordshire-raised, London-based singer/songwriter RHODES first captured everyone’s attention with a series of EPs leading up to the release of his acclaimed 2015 debut album Wishes (via Sony Music).

Read More

Miss Krystle – Monster (Single)

Miss Krystle is an artist that I first heard about through YouTube as she actively and posts a variety of videos on her channel including her original material, her versions of other tracks, music videos and more.

Read More

Secret Alliance — Revelation

Starting initially as a solo project of the Italian guitarist and producer Gianluca Galli (already founder and former of Mantra, Time Machine and Silver Horses to name a few). Revelation is the follow-up to the January 2020 debut album Solar Warden.

Read More

Lapels — The Life & Times (Single)

When it was officially announced that the Marquee Club brand would branch out with a record label Marquee Records in 2021 it was a fantastic way to not only keep the legendary name alive but to also become a platform for the rising stars coming through in the UK music scene.

Read More

Dan Patlansky — Shelter of Bones

Award-winning South-African blues rock guitarist Dan Patlansky has returned with his new record Shelter of Bones. The album was recorded over a three-year period from 2019 – 2021 with the global pandemic giving him not only time with his family but also time to think about the songs and how he wanted them to come across.

Read More

Cory Marks – Nashville Mornings EP

Cory Marks released his debut album ‘Who I Am’ in 2020 and received attention from the likes of Billboard, Toby Keith, Brantley Gilbert (both of whom asked Marks to tour with them) and accrued no less than 33 million streams worldwide with single ‘Outlaws and Outsiders. He has now released his ‘Nashville Mornings’ EP.

Read More

Harry Dean Lewis – Damn (Single)

Australian singer-songwriter Harry Dean Lewis has released his new solo single ‘Damn’. Mixed by Chris Cornelius and mastered by Scape Mastering, the track opens with a heartbeat-sounding drumbeat provided by Gidon Carmel that creates a real atmosphere.

Read More

Steve Balsamo – Armour Of My Soul (Single)

Following on from the Americana offering with ‘Don’t Feel Like Love’, Steve Balsamo has released a new track ‘Armour of My Soul’. Produced by Tim Hamill at Sonic One Studio in Wales, it was written twenty years ago by Steve Balsamo and David Batteau.

Read More

Troy Redfern – Waiting For Your Love (Single)

Troy Redfern is no stranger to us here at JLTT and we have been following his career for many years. In 2021, Troy is releasing his brand new album entitled ‘…The Cosmic Fire!’ on Friday 6th August 2021 and has shared its first single ‘Waiting For Your Love’.

Read More

Matt Backer – Backernalia

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Backer is an immensely talented individual who has worked with everybody from Julian Lennon to ABC amongst others. Backer has released a new solo album entitled ‘Backernalia’ and he was kind enough to send a copy to urselves at JLTT.

Read More

Ellis Mano Band Featuring Lachy Doley – The Question (Single)

Swiss blues rock outfit Ellis Mano Band have released their second single ‘The Question’ which is taken from their forthcoming album ‘AMBEDO’. However, the new track features Mr Lachy Doley who has worked with the likes of Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Jimmy Barnes as well as being a successful solo artist in his own right.

Read More

Malone Sibun — Come Together

Malone Sibun is the work of UK based soulful blues-rock artist Marcus Malone and British blues rock guitarist Innes Sibun. Such is the way with many band origin tales; a chance meeting between the pair uncovered a surprising amount of musical common ground and the outfit was born.

Read More

Michael Ball — We Are More Than One

If there is one thing you cannot call Mr Michael Ball it is lazy. Stepping in to host the late Sir Terry Wogan’s BBC Radio 2, Ball has entertained millions of listeners every Sunday morning as well as appearing in musicals such as Hairspray not to mention his steady output with Alfie Boe and the touring that comes with it.

Read More

Ivory Layne — Lonely Hearts (Single)

Ivory Layne is a woman who started the art of songwriting at the age of six and learnt the art of music production in her teenage years. As her career grew, she supported the likes of Andy Grammar and The Script amongst others and was then signed to Justin Timberlake’s artist development company Villa40.

Read More

Heavyman — Beautiful Place EP

Heavyman are a four-piece London-based hard rock band Their debut EP ‘Beautiful Place’ opens with ‘Baby Jean’ with a punchy rock electric guitar riff from Nick Burns as a pulsating drumbeat pours out the speakers. A solid start gentleman.

Read More

Dynamyte — Show Me You (Single)

Dynamyte is a vocalist, songwriter, drummer and Tae Kwon Do black belt born in Boston, Massachtes. Securing a degree in Social Psychology from Brown University, DYNAMYTE is fascinated by what makes people tick and has embraced that thought process in her songwriting.

Read More

Drew Thomas — Vultures (Single)

Vultures’ is the new single from London based singer-songwriter Drew Thomas. Enlisting the talents of producer Nat Webb (The Struts, Kelsey Carter), Thomas has decided to analyse themes of bad friendships and negativity.

Read More

George Eve — I Don’t Mind (Single)

The track starts with memorable mumbling surrounded by upbeat acoustic guitar and for the most part sticks with that for the duration of the song. However, it seems that George Eve has taken a leaf out of Crash Test Dummies’ book who had a hit song with the uncomplicated ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm’ to create a quirky yet memorable piece of music.

Read More

The Jujubes – Where Are We Now

The Jujubes are an upcoming blues trio based in London who have released their debut album. ‘Where Are We Now’ opens with the Fred Mac Dowell tune ‘You’re Gonna Be Sorry’ complete with an upbeat harmonica solo by Pete Sim

Read More

Years & Years – Starstruck (Single)

2021 has seen Olly Alexander showcase his acting talents with a role in Russell T Davies’s ‘It’s A Sin’ which has received both critical and public acclaim for the emotionally-charged subject matter of the Aids crisis between 1981 to 1991.

Read More

Mick Jagger With Dave Grohl – Easy Sleazy (Single)

As some of the Coronavirus restrictions are lifted in the UK to allow people to visit non-essential shops such as record stores as well as pre-book to get a pint in a pub, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger has joined forces with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl for a brand new song called ‘Easy Sleazy’ (which would look great on some clothing apparel in my humble opinion).

Read More

Luiz Faria – Angel (Single)

Here at JLTT we are truly honoured to be able to listen to a variety of new music from a wide-range of genres and styles. We really appreciate it when people take the time to reach out to us with the music they have worked on so when we received a kind email from Luiz Faria we were intrigued about his new single ‘Angel’.

Read More

Ellis Mano Band – Keep It Simple (Single)

Swiss-based four-piece blues rock band the Ellis Mano Band will release their second album entitled ‘Ambedo’ on Friday 25th June 2021 on Jazzhaus Records. The first single ‘Keep It Simple’ begins with a fluid keyboard tone provided by Manuel Halter and soft drumming courtesy of Nico Looser that creates thoughts of traveling along.

Read More

Seafoam Green — House on the Hill (Single)

Seafoam Green is Irish songwriting duo Dave O’Grady and Muireann McDermott Long and they have been specialising in the Americana sound. Having worked with Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes on their debut album, the pair is gearing up for the release of their second studio record – ‘Martin’s Garden’ which is produced Tyler Greenwell – founding member of Grammy-Award winning Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Read More

Paul Carrack — You’re Not Alone (Single)

Paul Carrack’s talents as a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter are all over popular music – writing and singing the 1975 Ace hit single ‘How Long’, joining the band Squeeze in 1981 with the successful ‘East Side Story’ album that included the radio hit ‘Tempted’, joining Mike Rutherford’s new project Mike + The Mechanics and having several hit songs including ‘Over My Shoulder’, ‘The Living Years’ amongst others as well as his solo career which has seen Carrack release music independently on his own label Carrack-UK.

Read More

Garbage — The Men Who Rule The World (Single)

Garbage have toured the world, were responsible for the theme of James Bond film ‘The World Is Not Enough’, have released six studio albums and are scheduled (pandemic and Government guidelines permitting) to join Blondie on a live UK arena tour in late 2021.

Read More

Billy F Gibbons — West Coast Junkie (Single)

It is very hard to try and be ‘Mr Cool’ when you have ZZ Top vocalist and guitarist Billy F Gibbons in the same room. I remember when I was fortunate enough to attend an album signing for his 2018 solo record ‘The Big Bad Blues’ at HMV in London and the capacity crowd was just in sheer awe at his presence.

Read More

Julian Taylor Band — Desert Star

The Julian Taylor Band are based in Toronto, Canada built around a collective of versatile musicians and friendships. The album is named after a flower that grows in some of the planet’s harshest terrain as West Indian and Indigenous Canadian frontman Julian Taylor felt that it was the perfect symbol for his music.

Read More

Imelda May — Made For Love (Single)

Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May has steadily built a loyal global fanbase with her velvety vocals and powerful material. As a result she has headlined The Royal Albert Hall, performed with the likes of Jeff Beck, Jools Holland, The Dubliners and Ronnie Wood to name but a few and has six albums to name with her latest ’11 Past The Hour’ scheduled for release in April 2021.

Read More

The Longing — Kiss From A Rose (Single)

During these uncertain times, it is important for people to have something to enjoy whether it is cooking a home-made meal, having an online chat with friends and loved ones, binge-watching a new television series or just listening to some music. One real important thing is that whilst the world of live music is in a state of flux, musicians and artists across the globe are still releasing new material and versions of well-known hits.

Read More

Smokey Hogg — The Texas Blues Of Smokey Hogg

This is Ace Records fifth Smokey Hogg CD and has been released to tie-in with the release of a book of the same title which has been written by Guido Van Rijn. Rijn has penned the compilation sleeve notes detailing each of the twenty-four tracks; thirteen of these come from 78s and 45s that have not been reissued before, seven are from LPs and are making their first appearance on CD, and four tracks are previously unissued in any form.

Read More

Quinn Sullivan — All Around The World

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Quinn Sullivan first appeared on our radar in 2015 when he was opening for the legendary Buddy Guy at Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The crowd was absolutely blown away with his immense guitar skills and his catchy songs including ‘Midnight Highway’. Buddy told the audience “Someone should give this kid a record deal!” and sure enough Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group did.

Read More

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band — Straight To You: Live

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is well-known for their electric live performances across the globe performing to sold-out venues and packed music festivals. Following people requesting a live DVD release for decades, the band decided that the time was right to release an audio/visual delight.

Read More

Cousin Harley — Let’s Go

Let’s Go is the seventh release from Canada’s hillbilly trio Cousin Harley and was recorded in early Spring 2020 at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver. Led by Gretsch endorsee Paul Pigat who not only wrote every song on the record but also produced, we begin with ‘Right Back At Blues’ that just swings with Keith Picot’s double bass and Jesse Cahill’s drum tone as the fluid rhythm section.

Read More

Kai Strauss — In My Prime

Opener ‘Going To London’ features a horn section which was built around US saxophone virtuoso Sax Gordon and whilst it has a rich full sound it is more Las Vegas than London. The drum intro from Alex Lex on the title track sets the scene for this swinging tune that would not be out of place in a late night jazz club atmosphere.

Read More

George Benson — Weekend In London

In the music world you have certain artists and musicians who through years of releasing albums, extensive global touring and overall hard work are able to reach a moment of their career where they are fortunate enough to be able to perform live at a venue of any size anywhere in the world whether it be The Sydney Opera House in Australia, Madison Square Gardens in New York City or in the case of Mr George Benson’s latest live offering the 250-capacity Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London, United Kingdom.

Read More

Aris Paul Band — Ghosts

This is the second album from Aris Paul Band following their 2018 debut Drive All Night. This record focuses on Aris’ friends, family and hometown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and kicks off Astray complete with an impactful rhythm section consisting of Matt Scott on bass and Aaron Wagner.

Read More

The McKee Brothers — A Time Like This

The McKee Brothers is led by producer and multi-instrumentalist Denis McKee who is backed by a collection first-class musicians and vocalists for the third release including Maxayn Lewis (Ike & Tina Turner), Bobby Watson (Michael Jackson) on bass, Steve Stephens (Glenn Hughes) and Vincent Fosset Jr. (Kirk Fletcher) on drums, Chris Stevens adding percussion, Bobby West (Keyboards) Lee Thornburg (Supertramp) on horn arrangements and brass, Doug Webb (Stanley Clark) on reeds AND guitar contributions from Larry McCray, Joey Delgado and Stan Budzynski adding some fluid slide guitar!

Read More

Marty Wilde — Running Together

Marty Wilde MBE has been making music and performing since 1958 in his own right and has also penned songs for the likes of Sir Tom Jones, Adam Faith and Lulu to name a few. His latest offering, ‘Running Together’ is actually his first-ever album of all-original self-penned or co-written and he has even made it a thoroughly family affair.

Read More

Félix Rabin — Pogboy EP

French guitarist Félix Rabin has been steadily building his fanbase since he was fifteen having played in jam sessions across France and Switzerland. Rabin now has a six-track debut EP entitled Pogboy which was coined by recording engineer Ross Hogarth, who noticed his frequent use of a guitar effects pedal called Pog.

Read More

Savoy Brown — Ain’t Done Yet

Formed in 1965, Savoy Brown have been credited as being instrumental in the blues rock movement with a staggering forty-one album releases between 1967 and 2019. Still packing venues and making music, the aptly titled Ain’t Done Yet proves just that.

Read More

Cathy Grier + The Troublemakers — I’m All Burn

Cathy Grier has released her fourteenth album ‘I’m All Burn’ in which she enlisted the musical talent of her new home Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin having moved there in 2016. This sixteen-track offering opens with the title track which deals with the subject of gender equality covering issues of imagery and pay.

Read More

Lucius Parr Band — Blues And Me

Singer-songwriter and musician Lucius Parr was born in the small country town of Yoakum, Texas and went from playing trombone in fifth grade to majoring in music at college and then being deployed to the Vietnam War after being drafted into the United States Army.

Read More

The Smoke Wagon Blues Band — The Ballad Of Albert Johnson

Formed in 1996, The Smoke Wagon Blues Band are a seven-piece outfit with seven independent album releases and three Independent Blues Awards for their previous record Cigar Store. The title track kicks things off with Corey Lueck (vocals, harmonica) providing a punchy harp solo whilst Memphis Soul is driven by Jason Colavecchia funky bass riff with a Stevie Ray Vaughan Double Trouble influenced organ solo.

Read More

Santana – Africa Speaks

Back with a new album, helmed by producer Rick Rubin, Carlos Santana is keen to remove the scourge of over-synthesised muzak that all sounds the same and takes inspiration from the sounds of Africa..whilst not neglecting the Latin- blues-rock-salsa elements that brought him eternal success.

Read More

Mitch Ryder – Detroit Breakout!

The great Detroit rocker returns in the company of music’s finest practitioners of driving rock’n’roll. I treasure this man’s past releases, especially the imports from Germany I had to track down over the years.

Read More

Peter Frampton Band – All Blues

Frampton faces a loss of dexterity in his hands, so has been in the studio with his bandmates recording material for future release.This particular set finds the group performing blues standards BUT with their own stamp.

Read More

Mark Butcher – Now Playing

A long-awaited second album from the singer and guitarist, who often appears in the all-star Boom Band (featuring our pals Matt Taylor and Jon Amor) live performances. Here, Mark is in the company of Smiley Barnard, drums and Andy Lewis bass plus Alex Richards keys and Pete Twyman on guitar and keys.

Read More

Rory Gallagher – Blues (3-CD Edition)

Rory had a sure grip on blues, roots, folk and even jazz styles…in this collection you can hear all these elements and plenty of steaming rock’n’roll. His enthusiasm and attack are undoubted but the sensitivity is always there. It is no wonder that Rory still influences so many musicians.

Read More

The BB King Blues Band – The Soul Of The King

An assemblage of B B King band members and guests celebrating the great man and his music. The Hoax of course celebrated Riley King a few years back on a terrific album and it is pleasing that this set in the wake of his passing shares the fiery spirit of that record.

Read More

Robin Trower – Coming Closer To The Day

So here is the latest in the series of albums where Robin multi-tasks on the instruments and the vocals as part of what I call his New Testament. And he digs deep, with his musical roots on display and his imagination scraping the sky. The lyrics can bite or prompt reflection and the guitar mastery reigns but with no pomp rock bluster.

Read More

Reese Wynans & Friends -Sweet Release

Keys man of choice for many great artists, Wynans in conversation seems softly chuffed with having his own album out. On it he mixes styles, tempo’s and instrumentation and to be frank listening to it you might not assume it was a keys player’s oeuvre..which is my way of saying you will likely just enjoy the tunes and performances.

Read More

Katie Spencer – Weather Beaten

So here we find Katie on guitar and vocal in the company of double bassist Tom Mason, drummer-percussionist Miles Bould and flute/clarinet man Martin Winning – recorded at Steinway in Fulbeck with Spencer co-producing with Spencer Cozens.

Read More

Paul Millns – A Little Thunder

The cover shot has Millns looking like a repo man at the end of an aggravating day, but we know better than to judge a book…this release brings us fourteen numbers from Paul, in the company of a full range of instrumentalists to complement the singer’s keyboard work.

Read More

Celso Fonseca – Turning Point

On this new album, Fonseca who of course served fruitful time in Gilberto Gil’s band from the early 80s stretches out, collaborating with Erika Ender and others. The notion is to mix and blend the acoustic side of Celso’s oeuvre with electronic touches.

Read More

Matt Andersen – Halfway Home By Morning

What will draw you, the discerning listener into the spell of Canadian songsmith Andersen is somewhat similar to US writer-performer Eric Paslay’ s core appeal, as in Matt‘s tales and tunes, you keep recognising people, behaviours, values and situations in your own experience.

Read More

JD Simo – Off At 11

Our man Simo returns with a new album in his name. His last release with the trio Simo was soaked in what is best termed psychedelic soul, his fluid and skybound guitar riffing to the fore. He is a love-totin’ hippy at heart, so his recordings tend to eschew what might be fashionable and aim at certain ambiences and atmospherics which liberate the players straight to free expression.

Read More

Tiwayo – The Gypsy Soul Of Tiwayo

Tiwayo looks lean and hungry on the album cover..presumably hungry for career success. The mixture of influences drawn upon here includes reggae, folk, blues
soul and gospel. Mark Neill helms the production along with Tiwayo.

Read More

Joanne Shaw Taylor – Reckless Heart

So our guitar toting star returns..she’s carrying less and delivering more on this outing, as her producer has assembled a band of seasoned Detroit jazz alumni and what a glorious set of sound vistas they present on these recordings.

Read More

Ward Thomas – Restless Minds

The twins’ latest release finds them in a good place, working decent venues and festivals and producing new material that develops their fresh-air harmonic flow into one or two new lyrical areas. The images and design are a credit to the originators.

Read More

Eric Gales – The Bookends

A release from the loose cannon Eric Gales always turns out to be intriguing. I reckon this is because he will listen to Holst, Howlin’ Wolf, Herbie Hancock..to Blues, bluegrass, Brahms and Billie Holiday – and that could be one of my record shelves.

Read More

Robben Ford – Purple House

This is a creative bloke who challenges himself all the time BUT with deep roots in blues and jazz stylings. As such, the amiable Robben always rings the changes with each album release..yet always he maintains his own strong character. In some ways he is truly the blues world’s Neil Young or Tom Waits. No wonder he has a following.

Read More

Kirk Fletcher – Hold On

I have seen guitarist Kirk perform a couple of times with Joe Bonamassa and my overall impression was one of robust style, accent on rhythmic patterns with very generic solo’ing.

Read More

Sound Of The Sirens – This Time

Sound Of The Sirens is not a duo I am overly familiar with and I have not had the opportunity to hear their 2017 debut album ‘For All Our Sins. ’ However, this West-Country pair will release their second record ‘This Time’ in early 2019 and we have kindly been sent an advance copy for review. Let’s press play…

Read More

K-Syran – Journey

The dance-pop queen rounds up recent releases for this album and the changes are rung. She seems to create a song for most moods and here the material is varied, as we might by now expect.

Read More

Collateral – ‘4 Shots!’ EP

Visually, this rock four-piece seem to observe all traditions – lively images posing, lairy clothes, showy hair…so what matters is the quality of their material and the impact of their performances.

Read More

Delta Rae – A Long And Happy Life EP

A country act comprising six men and two women, produced by veteran helmsman Dan Huff – so likely of quality and interest, given his track record and history. The main chunk of writing appears to fall to Eric Holljes and Ian Holljes, presumably brothers.

Read More

The Overtones – The Overtones

Their reputation founded on their lively stage performances, invariably with a colourful instrumental band behind them, The Overtones’ sad loss this year of one of their lineup has left them a quartet. It may be a cliché that the departed Timmy would beyond any doubt have wanted the outfit to continue – whatever his own problems and crises – but it surely is the truth.

Read More

Rachael Sage – Myopia

So for some years now I have written about Ms Sage’s releases, enjoyed her company at eateries when she is over from New York and attended several live performances…here comes the joke…but once again I look through the lengthy Thank You album credits and once again, I am not included. Er…an oversight?

Read More

John Akapo – Paradise Blues

‘Big John’ Akapo comes from Hawaii and reportedly has delta blues and American Samoan in his DNA. Here he performs originals in with a few versions that show where he is coming from. Like many of us, John’s parents did not care for his music.

Read More

The Blues Messengers – Uncut

This act comprises ‘Sir’ Oliver Mally, Alex Meik and Peter Muller. Guitar, stand-up bass and drums and a relaxed feel as starting cut Devil’s Gone Fishing rolls in on an Al Green groove.

Read More

Liv Austen – A Moment Of Your Time

With some EP releases and several live performances under her belt including Cornbury Music Festival at C2C Music Festival in London to name a few, Liv Austen has released her debut album entitled ‘A Moment Of Your Time’.

Read More

The Struts – YOUNG&DANGEROUS

I’m not overly familiar with The Struts I must admit. I have read about them in the music press and how when they opened for the Foo Fighters the band’s frontman Dave Grohl stated that “they’re the best opening band they’ve ever had” and that the rock legend that is Alice Cooper made a cameo in one of their music videos but that is really it.

Read More
Loading