To stick to the accompanying press release for a moment, Joanne Shaw Taylor is a Black Country raised guitar prodigy and blues vocalist of note. Originally discovered by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, she has, to date, released two albums – 2009’s ‘White Sugar’ and 2010’s ‘Diamonds in the dirt’ and now she is returning to action with ‘Almost Always never’, an album produced by Mike McCarthy and featuring the exceptional talents of David Garza (keyboards), Billy White (bass guitar) and J. J Johnson (drums). I have had the opportunity to live with the album for almost two weeks and the most notable aspect is that over the course of those weeks every time I’ve played the record there’s been some new moment to discover and cherish and the album as a whole comprises 12 tracks ranging from the soulful ‘Beautifully broken’ to the raging torrent of opening track ‘Soul station’ which features some molten guitar work from Joanne which suggests that she’s at least as influenced by Hendrix as B B King and Clapton.
Grabbing your attention from the very start, ‘Soul Station’ is a superb opening track. A perfect introduction to Joanne’s beautifully smoky voice it also allows for some searing guitar work that sounds as if it was cut live in one sweaty take in the studio, the band struggling to keep up with the fearsome barrage of fret-work unleashed by an ecstatic Joanne. The contrast is then delivered by ‘Beautifully broken’ which sees David Garza’s keyboard work offsetting a track that feels both melancholy and euphoric at the same time. Sounding like the sort of single that would have graced the charts in the seventies, ‘you should stay, I should go’ is the sort of brilliantly melodic, soul-infused blues that Tina Turner always dreamed of writing, delivered with a deft acoustic guitar line and allowing plenty of space for a heart-felt solo to ripple across the latter half of the song. It’s timeless, brilliantly written, played and produced music that is filled with a rare analogue warmth in this cold digital age and it highlights Joanne’s skill as an artist. ‘Piece of the sky’ has a delicate swing to it, the bass and keyboards leading the verse, the stripped back approach allowing space for Joanne’s amazing voice to breathe and swell before a solo soars out of the mix, the distorted guitar bristling with a vitality and passion that complements Joanne’s voice perfectly.
Stepping even further into roots territory, ‘Army of one’ is a stunning, foot-stomping track complete with slide guitar that is deceptively complex and a brilliantly realised highlight of the album. ‘Jealousy’ is a pure soul number that recalls Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart’s recent collaboration with its keyboard swells and aching guitar work tearing at your consciousness and taking you to a smoky, dimply-lit underground bar where whiskey flows like water and Joanne is singing for you and you alone. The title track, in contrast, is a lighter piece of work that recalls the meandering blues of Mad Season with its subtle percussion and overloaded bass throbbing away at the song’s heart. Surely one of the album’s most explosive, rock ‘n’ roll tracks, ‘Tied and bound’ kicks off with a distorted guitar riff that’s only one small step away from stoner rock, the warm scent of herbal substances drifting through the organ washes and grinding guitar riff and by this point anyone with a soul would be willing to follow Joanne anyway she chooses to go, so utterly compelling is the breadth of her musicality. The song ends with some blistering solos, Joanne’s fingers flying over the fret board with at least as much feel as technical precision, the guitar work echoing the passions flowing through the lyrics keeping the listener bewitched by the wonder of it all. ‘A hand in love’, like so much of the music here, could have been written any time in the last fifty years as it stands utterly untouched by fad and fashion and instead goes straight for the heart and soul, the driving percussion underpinning the languid guitar work and Joanne’s stunning voice ever the star of the show. ‘Standing to fall’ is a hard rocking track overlaid with wah-inflected guitar works and Joanne’s most aggressive vocal, real grit tearing into her vocals and a blistering solo to match – it’ll doubtless be a highlight of the live set with its rambling, almost progressive, mid-section and heavy riffs and it’s certainly a highpoint of this mind-blowing album. ‘Maybe tomorrow’ is softly seductive, hypnotic and quite beautiful and it too heads into quirky free-form territory towards the end, allowing one last opportunity to let loose on the guitar before ‘Lose myself to loving you’ closes the album on a more sedate note, proving to be the perfect end to a near perfect album.
It’s hard to know how to conclude this review – I have lived with this album for two weeks and yet, despite the fact that I know it well after so much time, I equally feel like I don’t know it at all. The superficially obvious characteristics – Joanne’s stunning voice and exemplary guitar skills, the power of her band, the warm, clear production – these are all commendable in the extreme, but it is the song writing which makes you want to spend a lifetime in the presence of this record. The music is multi-layered and possessed of great depth and yet never overly complex. Joanne is clearly not just a prodigious talent, but an artist who has absorbed and understand the deep emotional resonance of the blues, soul and rock and roll and is thus able to craft melodies that can equally generate the brightest euphoria, or recall the deepest despair. ‘Almost Always never’ is a joyous, wonderful album that sets Joanne Shaw Taylor up there with artists such as Joe Bonamassa and, dare I say, even Clapton; it is a staggering, timeless, delightful record and it’ll benefit from any number of replays.
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