Saint Jude - Ladies & Gents
Rave, rave, rave rave. RAVE, rave rave; rave rave rave rave. Rave.
Yeah, its that good; and worringly, its just a taster, a filler until the new album comes out. The band may have changed round a bit, Lynne Jackman and Lee Cook still there, Adam Greene & Colin Palmer Kellogg replaced (?) by Marcus Bonfanti & Scott Wiber with keyboards looking up for grabs, but they’re still playing this like blues/rock’s equivalent of TV’s Ashes To Ashes.
Kicking off with a newbie, In My Head, you’d be excused for thinking Marcus has been on the helium if you’re not familiar with Lynne’s vocal prowess. The whole vibe is like Janis Joplin fronting The Faces re-working Led Zeppelin III, but very much contemporary. Garden of Eden & Angel are acoustic revisits to earlier Saint Jude numbers, sandwiching another new song, Leave A Light, before more acoustic stylings, Down And Out and Little Queen. Then they go back and plug things in for a rattling of Jim Capaldi’s Whale Meat Again.
Coming so close on the heels of thoughts about the new Joe & Beth Hart album, this might smack a bit of being a “low-rent” comparison, and true Lynne Jackman may not share Beth Hart’s demons, but she’s got a voice that could strip pine. Meanwhile Marcus Bonfanti is no muffin on the guitar on any day. No, this is like a Mitsubishi Evo chasing a Porsche 911, may not quite get there, but bloody good fun trying. And remember, this is just the “practice lap”.
When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons. Why were the lemons free? What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...