‘S.A.D.’ was Billy Jenkins’ first album with the Blues Collective.
As the
terrific musicians of the Voice of God Collective flourished in
their own
careers, Billy took a long overdue path back to his roots, at the
same
time developing his talents as a singer. The result is a more
pared back
guitar-based sound from the Voice of God exuberance, while losing
none
of the caustic Jenkins punch. The first couple of tracks set the
pace and
tone. The order of the day is fast characteristically ascerbic
guitar-work
while Jenkins lends a new meaning to the term ‘blues shout’.
‘Pissed off
boy’ is pure Muddy Waters after a few lager-tops. Rapid guitar
thrash threaded
around funksome harmonica by Whispering Gerry Tigue. ‘Every night
you turn
away’ is a fine slow blues on a whiffy blend of harmonica and Dave
Ramm’s
keyboards, incorporating an extended solo on Billy’s guitar at its
most
BBesque. ‘Where did I stay last night’ is a more medium tempo
number bemoaning
the thrills of touring. ‘I’m on an island’ betrays Jenkins’ free
jazz sensibilities,
with a much looser feel to the earlier tracks; the deep dark
‘Where are
you’ and ‘I’m stuck on you’ continue the theme of powersome guitar
over
incessant harmonica and organ beatfulness. The up-tempo
instrumental ‘Walking
back to crappiness’ is the first of three tracks joined by the Fun
Horns
of Berlin: ‘Jazz had a baby’ mixes off-the-wall brass flapping
along to
twiddle-finger fast guitar; ‘Give me the money quick’ shows all
the band’s
thunderous forces blazing, with an extra guitar thrown in to add
to the
buzz The closer, ‘Goodbye blues’, more of an appendix, is a lo-fi
live
recording and sounds like an attempt to capture the original
recording
conditions Blind Lemon Jefferson had to put up with- "I’ll be back
someday"
is just about discernible: and he was back, to where the blues
first raised
its gloomy gin-soaked nose.
This was Billy’s first album as out and out lead singer and so it is
no
surprise that his guitar skills take the fore. He runs the stylistic
canon
through Peter Green and Clapton, via Buddy Guy, Paganini and Ornette
Coleman.
Chorus after chorus plunges and quivers, as Billy shows he can fit
fifteen
notes into half a beat with the best of them. At the same time he
makes
full use of the simplicity of the blues, framing the musical phrases
with
stripped, functional work from his sidemen. British blues of course
has
a sumptuous history, taking in the Stones, Hendrix, Cream, T Rex,
the Goodies
and Basil Brush. An artistically successful modern blues album can
either
be suitably derivative or clearly expressive of the blues as evident
in
modern life. ‘S.A.D.’ is a believable album on both counts, pointing
the
way to many more years of the Blues Collective as a state-of-the-art
purveyor
of real music for real people played on real instruments. So far it
hasn’t
particularly caught on in the industry as a whole, but we can hope,
can’t
we?
