Oh man, the year has barely got under way and already we’ve been hit with a pair of cracking blues releases – Matt Anderson’s ‘Honest man’ (reviewed here) and Ronnie Baker Brooks’ absolute delight of an album, ‘Times have changed’. A masterclass in the blues, ‘Times have changed’ has it all – stinging leads, soulful vocals, a pounding beat that gets the appendages instinctively moving and, most importantly, it has a vibe that is so resolutely joyful it’s impossible not to respond. In an age of endless sonic polish and soulless conformity, Ronnie Baker Brooks and his band have crafted an album that has all the crackling energy of a live performance given in a bar where the whiskey flows and the crowd laugh and sing throughout the whole performance.
It’s been a decade since Brooks’ last album, which may explain some of the excitement that is imprinted upon every track, and ‘Times have changed’, a sparkling mix of covers and new material, is the perfect return. Packed with guests, including Lonnie Brooks (Ronnie’s father), Bobby Bland, Angie Stone, Lee Roy Parnell, the album is a celebration of music in all its forms (something made clear when Al Kapone swaggers into view on the title track) and Ronnie’s willingness to explore beyond the blues gives the album a timeless feel quality and an exploratory zeal that is a pleasure to hear.
The album opens with ‘Show me’ (feat. Steve Cropper), a track that captures a similar vibe to the Blues Brothers’ ‘Shake a tail feather’ with its smooth vocals, taut lead work, rich horns and ecstatic build up. Steve Cropper makes his presence felt with some suitably wired lead work and the track is an explosive opener – one that makes you want to dance with joy the second it appears – setting the album’s amazing vibe form the off. Ronnie and his band lay down a sweet groove next on ‘Doing too much’ (feat. ‘Big Head’ Todd Mohr) and if you’re not hooked by this point you may well be clinically dead. Next up is a special moment as father Lonnie and son Ronnie come together for a cover of Alvin Cash & The Crawlers’ ‘Twine time’, an instrumental that sends jolts of electricity sparking across the room as if the band played with such heart and soul that its coming straight out of the speakers and right at you. It’s a brilliant track and captures the very human spirit that sits at the heart of the whole album. The album’s title track is no less exhilarating. Featuring Al Kapone as a guest vocalist, the track combines a nostalgia for days seemingly long gone with a more earthen, contemporary sense of change espoused by Kapone. The two styles gel effortlessly, and, to date, only Gary Clarke Jr. and the Fun Lovin’ Criminals have managed to bring together the spirit of blues and hip hop with such style. We’re back into the blues next, albeit a turbo-charged, funk-blues that struts its funky stuff all over the place, with ‘Long story short’, a track that sounds like Robert Cray jamming on James Brown. The first half of the album concludes with ‘Give me your love (love song)’, which features Angie Stone on vocals. A soft, sensual piece of music enhanced by a lascivious horn section, the track recalls nothing so much as the Mike Patton side-project Lovage, and as it progresses it becomes, arguably, the soundtrack to the greatest porn movie never made.
The spirit of funk continues to loom large on the Joe Tex cover, ‘give the baby anything the baby wants’ (feat. ‘Big Head’ Todd Mohr & Eddie Willis) which draws together James Brown yelps, throbbing bass lines and hotwired guitar lines in an inspired display of precise musicianship and hormone-fuelled vocals. Ronnie and his crew bring everything back down to earth with a beautiful rendition of ‘Old love’ (originally written by Eric Clapton and Robert Cray for the former’s ‘Journeyman’ album) for which he enlists the help of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland. With a subtle hip hop touch woven into the fabric of the song, it’s a wonderful updating of a timeless classic. You’d better get on your dancing shoes for the blistering ‘Come on up’ (feat. Felix Cavaliere & Lee Roy Parnell), another track that channels the exuberance of the Blues Brothers and pours it direct into your living room. With the album rapidly reaching its conclusion, Ronnie digs deep to deliver ‘Wham bam thank you Sam’, a soulful, groovy track that combines Robert Cray and Albert King on a track that saunters unbid into your brain and lodges itself there. The album’s final cut is the rebuttal to modern isolationism ‘When I was we’, another track that slips effortlessly into Robert Cray territory with Ronnie’s creamy vocals backed by aching strings and subtle, yet exquisite guitar work. It is the perfect track to return the listener back to reality after nearly an hour happily lost in Ronnie’s company.
I’ve lived with ‘Times have changed’ for a week or two now, and what hits me most every time I put the album on is that it cuts close to the very heart of what makes music such a potent art form. You can feel the joy and excitement that was present in the studio throughout the sessions and the album feels like a tribute, first and foremost, to Ronnie’s absolute love of creating. It’s one of those rare records that can brighten even the darkest day and it is such a pleasure to sit back, dim the lights and just let the music flow over you. Every musician brings their A game and, at the heart of it all, Ronnie binds it all together, acting as ring master to this particular circus with a glee that is impossible to fake. ‘Times have changed’ is an essential album for any music lover’s collection and I cannot recommend it highly enough. (A Spinal Tap-ish) 11/10
