John O’Leary is one of the ol’
guys responsible for the British Blues revival in the sixties,
we should be grateful to them. John was the co-founder of The Savoy
Brown Blues Band and played with other famous Blues people (i.e.
Champion Jack Dupree, John Dummer). Now there is this, his second
solo album ‘Sins’. However, he puts it in perspective: this is an
album from The John O’Leary Band. And that band is world
class. It is also an international band with (German) Joachim Greve
(drums) and (Belgian) Dominique Vantomme on the keys.
Guitar player Jules Fothergill produced
the CD in an excellent way (he also did the graphics of the CD cover
but maybe he shouldn’t have done that too!). The John O’Leary
Band applies many styles; most remarkable are the jazzy ones with a
firm dose of rock (‘Blue Water’, ‘Waiting For You’).
The music making is of a very is high
level, especially Fothergill’s guitar (as usual) who plays the
stars out of heaven here; think about Robben Ford and
Carlos Santana. There’s also some thrifty but splendid Hammond &
piano playing by Vantomme and top quality versions of classics like
‘Black Cat Bone’ and Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Who’s Been Talking’
with it’s delicate and to the point harmonica work in a minor key
by O’Leary. Backing vocalists Rietta Austin and Lorna Reilly do a
good job on ‘Blue Water’ and on the party gospel ‘Save My
Soul’. There are also two instrumentals, the 70’s jazz-rock like
‘And Everything’, which reminds us of Focus, and the funky
‘Chiswick Roundabout’ where Fothergill goes all the way. ‘Sins’
is not a masterpiece, as some of the songs are too thin, but the
abilities of the musicians are so high to such an extent that this
album is a pleasure. Hats off to John O’Leary who gives
considerable liberty to the respective musicians and for doing what
he does best, playing the harmonica in the best possible way. Bobtje
