Following on from Witchy Feelin’, their number one Billboard Blues hit of 2017, Savoy Brown, the Kim Simmonds-fronted band, are back with a brand-new album – their fortieth in a truly remarkable fifty years of rocking. With a now-stable line up that features Pat DeSalvo (bass) and Garnet Grimm (drums), who have been a part of the band for over a decade, Savoy Brown sound energised on city night, a twelve-track affirmation of the band’s reputation for playing an energetic take on the blues that harks back to the likes of Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Indeed, the Cream connection goes deeper, with Kim employing the classic combo of Gibson Les Paul and Marshall Amps, the hefty tone of which still enthrals all these years after they were first paired.
Right from the opening track, the swampy blues of Walking on hot stones, Savoy Brown sound revitalised, Kim’s dirty tone and slithery leads straight out of New Orleans, capturing the oppressive heat and humidity of the mid-summer as Pat and Garnet nail the rhythm to the floor. This is one hell of a meaty blues that Savoy Brown are dealing on city night, and Kim’s wild excursions on the guitar are never less than enthralling. The mood lightens on the slinky, late-night road-blues of don’t hang me out to dry, which has a Chris Rea vibe in its pairing of a subtle, retrained vocal and gritty guitar. With Garnet keeping the pace light, although Pat’s sanguine bass keeps things grounded, payback time is a great potential single choice replete with some fantastically understated lead work. The slide returns on the tough-as-nails red light mama, which has a ZZ Top boogie to it, and which is guaranteed to get the feet tapping. That urge to keep the beat along with the band continues on the latter-day-Clapton-style conjure rhythm, a glorious Delta-stomp, before neighbourhood blues takes aims at crooked politicians and baby kissers over a languid riff that allows for yet more expressive soloing.
Wearing its heart on its sleeve, Selfish world slows things right down, as Kim tackles the isolation and greed of the consumerist world that has developed around him in the last half-century. A late-night lament, selfish world is a heart-felt track with a Walter Trout vibe. The effects of the modern world continue to resonate on the resigned blues of wearing thin, where Kim’s guitar work takes on a Gilmour-eque feel as it cries over Pat’s looming bass. The straight-up blues shuffle of cry night adopts a similar tone to Bob Dylan’s Tempest, a touch of grit creeping into Kim’s vocal and the guitar kept tightly under control compared to the excursions found elsewhere. Things get heavier again on the cheekily-titled hang in tough, which has a searing ZZ Top riff, positively soaked in distortion, leading the way. Washed in reverb, superstitious woman has a Doors vibe and the track wouldn’t sound out of place in a Tarantino movie, it’s nagging rhythm and woozy guitar sending the listener into a reverie before the tough groove of album closer, ain’t gonna worry, brings things nicely to an end.
With a gritty tone harking back to the days of Cream and a healthy selection of blues references peppered across its twelve tracks, City night is not seeking to reinvent the wheel and, after fifty years in the business, there’s no reason why Savoy Brown should seek to redefine a genre that has served them so well. The language is well-worn, but the passion for the music and the hearty enthusiasm with which the band approach each song is genuine, the album being all the more enjoyable for it. After a heavier first half, the second half of the album takes on a more reflective tone, before coming back to where it started with the energetic (and energising) ain’t gonna worry capping it all off. It sees the album out on a high and fans of the band will find much to enjoy here. 8
