Ashley Sherlock,”Just A Name” (Ruf Records)- Thomas Ruf’s excellent record label continues to provide a rich source of freshly minted material for blues devotees around the world, and Ruf’s latest offering focusses attention on the eagerly anticipated debut set from Mancunian singer-guitarist Ashley Sherlock. This eclectic character cites such diverse musical influences as Guns’n’Roses, Dire Straits and Jeff Buckley, and his refreshingly melodic approach to the task in hand permeates eminently listenable tracks such as “Empty Street,” “Our Love” and “Time.”
Luther Grosvenor,”Under Open Skies” (Cherry Red)- This agreeable long player first saw the light of day in 1971 and marked the solo debut of Evesham born Luther Grosvenor, recently departed from influential British rockers Spooky Tooth and soon to join forces with Stealers Wheel as Gerry Rafferty’s replacement. This collaboration also proved to be a fairly short lived one and Luther went on to adopt the unlikely monicker of Ariel Bender for contractual reasons before replacing Mick Ralphs on guitar in the Mott the Hoople line-up in 1973. “Under Open Skies” remains his crowning glory however, and “Here Comes The Queen” and “Waiting” supply ideal introductions to this unjustly neglected gem.
Djabe & Steve Hackett,”Live in Gyor” (Cherry Red)- Steve Hackett has always been eager to expand his musical horizons whenever the opportunity presents itself, and the former Genesis guitarist first joined forces with Hungarian jazz-rock outfit Djabe to record the improvised “Life Is A Journey” on the island of Sardinia. This splendid audio-visual package continues this fruitful collaboration, extending over two CDs and a Blu-ray disc as it captures their live show in the Hungarian city of Gyor, showcasing an assortment of Genesis and Hackett crowd pleasers alongside some Djabe originals and some choice extracts from their previous album together.
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