Nick is a founder member of Trampled Underfoot but here is performing under his own name, with a mixture of versions and his own material.

A left-handed guitar player, Nick’s voice, heard here above a lively crowd is solid rock-blues in style and on the opening Fool he sings along with the guitar single-note figures to start the number. The band smash in before two minutes is up. The venue is Knuckleheads (is that the owner or the patrons?) Saloon in December last year and the performance rocks the place up.

Pain In My Mind brings Bad Company to mind, sparse bass and all. The band has some fun on the jumpy Herbert Harper’s Free Press News and cools out on the trad blues You Call That Love. The syncopated Bad Woman Blues features slide guitar. It’s a brave artist that attempts Johnny Winter’s Mean Town Blues especially at the same tempo as The White Tornado, with slide, bass and drums. Best not, Nick.

The boogie thump of Jonny Cheat is well-played standard stuff. Bad Disposition is the meanest sounding piece in this collection and sounds pretty authentic. The jazzy Schoolnight nods at Wes Montgomery with a sort of Stray Cats leaning and is easily the best cut on the record. For me this album is listenable but not in any way original or that exciting. More adventure would make better use of the obvious talent here.

Pete Sargeant