By David O’Neill
The blues maestro strikes again! Sometimes I wonder how much time some people have in their day! Having only just reviewed the latest release from Black Country Communion I get a link to another album release from one of the main protagonists – aka Mr Joe Bonamassa. Only this time it is a live album recording featuring a full orchestra support from his debut performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023: Yes, you read that right – his DEBUT performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023! Can you believe he had never played there before?
Joe Bonamassa is without doubt one of the best and most prolific blues guitarists on the planet. Add into this the gravelly tone of his voice and you get double bubble. I have been a fan of blues based rock music all my life, and when you listen to one of the worlds greatest exponents of the art form it is easy to understand why. On top of this his ability to encourage and support other artists in the genre, such as Joanne Shaw Taylor, makes for a continual stream of blues.
This 11 track album features a spine tingling orchestral opening to ‘When One Door Opens Overture’, a two minute orchestral piece (sans guitar or vocals!) that would grace any movie soundtrack before we get back to a guitar/orchestra opening to ‘Curtain Call’ that adds something special to the track when played live: the warmth/ depth and fullness that the live orchestra adds to the original track from the 2021 album version is simply breathtaking. At just over nine minutes, it’s a fabulous start to the album!
‘Self Inflicted Wounds’ is a much more relaxed track with just clean guitar and Joe’s voice in the opening, however, the orchestra and backing vocals certainly add to the emotion of the song. A smoky bar, a large whiskey (Irish in my case, hence the extra “e”), Joe on guitar with bass and drums would be ideal, however, the orchestra adds subtlety from the breakdown without detracting from the mood, and the female vocal at the outro – wow!
The opening keyboard section of ‘No Good Place For The Lonely’ is superbly supplemented by the orchestral section that just carries the rest of the track adding to the ambience of the whole track from the ‘Blues Of Desperation’ album version at the breakdown/outro. I can just imagine the faces Joe was pulling at this point-which guitarist doesn’t have a “solo face” or two!
After four tracks of seven-plus minutes, the shorter track (3:57) ‘Ball Peen Hammer’ provides some “light relief” but is no less influenced by the orchestral arrangement, especially during the flautist solo sections.
The trumpet opening to ‘The Last Matador Of Bayonne’ definitely adds to the tracks’ bluesy mood, The guitar opening has a similar sound to some of Pink Floyd’s guitar sections in its tone, but that is as close as it gets to Floyd. The rest of the track is just pure blues, back to that smoky dive-bar closed eyes guitar face and whiskey for me please!
I could go on trying to extol the virtues of all the remaining tracks – ‘Prisoner’, ‘The Ballad of John Henry’, ‘Twenty Four Hour Blues’ and my all time favourite ‘Sloe Gin’, but I would rapidly run out of adjectives and superlatives to do so.
My last line: if you like Joey B, you most definitely WILL NOT be in the least bit dissatisfied or disappointed with this masterpiece only in as much as you weren’t there at its inception. Buy it, but it buy it – I’m going to.
- ‘Live At The Hollywood Bowl‘ is out now.
- Joe Bonamassa has just announced a 2025 arena tour:
