Blues Matters Magazine
John
O'Leary Band CD "Sins" JOL CD001
THE JOHN O’LEARY BAND
Two for the Show - Trapeze CD
This is a nice package two CD’s under
the title of ‘Two For The Show’. You actually get a newly issued
studio album called ‘SINS’ and a live album ‘Live’ At Mr
Kyp’’, and both albums are very good. Let’s be honest here this
is no frills down to the bone British Blues, some of the best of its
kind. On the menu are lashings of John’s masterful harp playing and
top quality side dishes of Jules Fothergill’s mercurial liquid
sounding guitar. They weave around a selection of classic blues and
R&B covers and some originals. The studio album tracks were
recorded in 2004 and according to Paul Watts informative liner notes
this was originally privately produced by John O’Leary, who sold
***** plus copies. It’s now officially released on the re-launched
Acrobat label. So thank you to Paul Watts and co for making this
available. It is difficult to say which of the two sets – live or
studio has the edge; there are in any case similarities – ‘Early
In The Morning’ is on both albums – the same number is credited
to John Lee Williamson (the original ‘Sonny Boy’ I believe) on
the live set, and ‘Traditional’ on the studio set – this
seems to be a favourite tune of John’s, he opened with it at the
Cyril Davies tribute at the Eel Pie and it is a great groove – both
versions are very good but the studio version has a strange ending.
The Nick Gravenites’ song ‘Born In Chicago’ on the live set is
good. There is much to enjoy on both albums- good playing, especially
Jules Fothergill- his special qualities – he stretches to the
places where most players don’t venture – and he knows how to
build – to build tension- variations on a phrase- and most
importantly where to release tension and finish. John O’Leary’s
harp is excellent and the vocals are good as well, peaking on ‘House
Of Ice’ and ‘Move Away’ on the studio album. All in all I
recommend this to readers, it’s very good.