Robin Bibi
No More A Secret
(Ashwood Music)
I am not in any way neutral about this chap – he has been a friend and fellow musician for many years and if Rob and I are in the same room we usually end up making music together on whatever instruments are around. In our neck of the woods and due to years of gigging, recording and even teaching, Bibi remains a key figure and especially on the live performance scene. Every show he does is different and I have seen him play the same song in different modes, keys and tempos on acoustic and electric instruments. His rich and seasoned voice is a help and the fact that he aims to entertain with his music rather than just curate old songs the way you have heard them done hundreds of times by others.
So what is the maestro up to on this this new set? Longtime bassist and fine singer Tony Marten is aboard plus sticksman Craig Bacon. This simply means it’s going to sound great. The Blackjack Horns spice up some selections.
Songwise this is all the work of Robin and from the intense chug of Play! and it’s rich slide runs it becomes apparent that Bibi can create from roots in rock’n’roll and blues, especially SRV..then he throws in a bridge that could be Fairport Convention!
In Too Deep is typical Bibi in that it is unpredictable, the sweet harmonics and arpeggio chording make you wonder where he is going. The lyric is one of bewilderment and the vocal performance one of the best here. The blues soaks through Packing My Possessions, a song about moving on in all senses. Roots musicians tend to get knocked down every now and again BUT get up again and fall back on the things nobody can take them from..basically any talent they have attained or developed. The guitar solo is lyrical and the horns breathe a grained weariness throughout the cut. It’s just one of the areas of music that Bibi excels in and that he would modesty put down to his very early love of Peter Green.
Christmas Day is entirely different in mood and execution, it is a kind of electric folk song and the lyrics could be Rodney Crowell or John Prine. Very cool vocals here all round; Fast Lanes Busy nods to Jimi and to these ears has a very ‘London’ sound, with the horns high and crisp. Radio programmers will go for this one, I reckon. Get In It ! is tricky funk and the closest here to the style of the great Johnny Guitar Watson, another fine entertainer. Muddy Waters has a mood all of its own and a short delay on the chording which makes it rather haunting, the guitar biting and clear. No More A Secret is a springheeled and horn-infused modern soul item with another great vocal, again radio-friendly and punchy. No Label On Me has a thick guitar sound and emphatic lyric, pure Bibi as he is right now and the band right on the money. A song Whitesnake fans may dig !
A working musician and moreover creator not playing safe, except in his choice of playing companions, who should share any plaudits that come the way of this release.
Pete Sargeant
Robin Bibi’s new album ‘No More A Secret’ is out now on Ashwood Music. For more information visit his official website here: http://bit.ly/29b1aDH
