Savoy Brown – City Night

Savoy Brown

City Night

(Quarto Valley Records)

Now a well-established trio, this new set of songs has the crew with nothing to prove bar the quality of the material. A good place to be! Starter Walking On Hot Stones has that voodoo touch that Savoy often brings in and plenty of scorching slide guitar. Simmonds sings with steady authority.

Then Don’t Hang Me Out To Dry evokes the great Bobby Bland at times. It’s an edgy, guitar-strewn number with bubbling bass and boss drumming. Kim says his cohorts work flat out on the arrangements and it sounds like it. On to the winsome and very catchy Payback Time which floored the Under The Bridge audience with its insistence and sharp lyric. Red Light Mama ups the fuzz and rocks out with vicious slide runs whilst Conjure Rhythm goes for a driving mystery, a mean strike to the fore.

Next up the rueful Neighborhood Blues chronicling deterioration of townships where the law cannot keep up. The personal musings of Selfish World are heartfelt and Wearing Thin uses a heavy strut to make its point. Title cut City Night is a dark shuffle on the urban scene, all neon, shadows and sirens. Hang In Tough hits the Diddley groove with thunderous intent. The reflective Superstitious Woman has its roots in real life.

Finally Ain’t Gonna Worry brings a slashing boogie sound, full of energy. It’s fifty one years since Kim Simmonds put me on to Albert Collins. He’s still ahead of the curve.

Pete Sargeant