Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if Donald Fagen got the blues? Hopefully you have, as this album from David Wells is the answer. Like the title of the album suggests, this album grooves its way through the musical undergrowth to your ears.
Despite the title, this album turns out to be more jazz than the blues. Having said that "Best Friend" would not be lost in Nashville. "Monument to War" is a super cool, laidback funky tune that pleasingly counterpoints the political commentary present in the lyrics - "for every life he wasted he keeps a bullet shell". "Nice Day" starts with some tasty guitar licks and shows a dash of dark humour in the lyrics about the misuse of America's favourite phrase. "Florida" is again a tastefully performed song about doing the whole Midnight Cowboy thing and escaping to Florida. Mr Wells does the sentimental stuff well and "Song Inside My Heart" would make many a wedding party go with the flow. Our favourite track, however, was the warm and sunny love song, "Kauai".
Whilst Bluesbunny usually prefers his music on the raw side, this album convinced us that professional polish does not have to remove the soul from the music. Slick, professionally performed and sentimental without being schmaltzy, we enjoyed this release a lot and reckon it will have a wide appeal. Available from CD Baby.