Starlite Campbell Band

This is one fine piece of British Blues from the opening ‘Walkin’ Out The Door’ to the last with ‘Thrill You’.

I do love a Blues album that gets me wanting to boogie around the room and this one most definitely does.
You might call it retro-Blues as parts of it hark back to the Progressive Blues bands od the seventies and late sixties but it also encapsulates the excitement and the joy of many of the bands from that golden period.

Suzy Starlite plays a wicked bass and between her vocals and that of sidekick and husband Simon Campbell they cover all the bases. Campbell’s guitar is no mere add-on either as his playing on ‘Cry Over You’ proves. One feature about the music that I really dug was hearing Johnny Henderson’s marvellous Hammond and Wurlitzer – he was a regular with Matt Schofield and Ian Siegal and he fits in perfectly here. Steve Gibson’s (ex-Jack Bruce, Van Morrison, Maggie Bell) drums are on the spot and never threaten to overshadow things, just holding tight patterns while there is also a guest spot from Danny Boy Sanchez on harmonica.

They touch on a number of different styles including a delicious acoustic on the title track and howling Blues on ‘You’re So Good For Me’ and got me slavering for the next slice of this Blueberry Pie.
‘Guilty’ features Starlite’s vocals and she has no bad voice, no trying to overdo the vocals and underlined by a dense and heavy bass line. ‘Shimmy’ has a terrific skittering feel to it with Campbell’s guitar underlined by a fulsome Hammond swash.

It looks as though 2017 is already starting with a greater sense of musical joi de vivre than 2016 and this album definitely adds to that. A real slice of the right attitude and great playing.