Aynsley Lister Hamburg

Mike, having been an Aynsley fan for 10 years, I'm not surprised you were impressed. My first impression was and remains that he's a complete natural with a guitar. Stylish and smooth is another way of putting it.

I'm sorry you won't be in London for his gig the night before the RAH do, as I know he'll pulling out the stops for that one.

Martin, you're in for a treat in April. Will you also be able to get to Dingwalls on 3rd May?

Phil

Great review Mike! Nice to hear that he still plays that amazing cover of "Purple Rain", that totally blew me away when I saw him maybe a year ago at our local Blues Festival. Does he still have the blonde girl as his bassplayer?! All the guys didn´t look at Aynsley for a second when she came up on the stage ...

A friend of mine was at that show too and also had only positive things to say ... you´ll meet her at Joe´s Hamburg show too.

How´s Aynsley´s new album? Did you buy it? I liked his playing a lot, but kind of disliked his last album "up and down"... thought it was a bit too "pop-music" like, but maybe I should give it another listen. His first album is pretty cool as far as I can tell (don´t have it myself, but a friend does), bit more bluesy.

Thanks for your review,

Eva

Aynsley has been on my wish list for a long time, so extra thanks to Duncan for the pre-show!!  "Every Thing I Need"  is more to my taste than "Upside Down", so Eva I think you would like it. There is an announcement in the newest "Blues Festival E-Guide" from Ruf Records that "Upside Down" is being released in the States March 10th. No mention of "Equilibrium"..odd to me! So, I'll have to wait until the show to buy it! Here's the "blurb"

Upside Down is English guitarist/singer Aynsley Lister's fourth studio album and his first to contain all original songs. With a strong European following already in tow, Lister is poised to spread his magic in the U.S. with the release of his new CD, which deftly shows his incendiary guitar chops and strong bluesy vocals to their maximum edge. He headlines many of the major festivals throughout Europe, and his previous albums have seen him working with such illustrious producers as Jim Gaines (Steve Ray Vaughan, Santana).European critics have already hailed Upside Down as "his best album ever," (Get Ready to Rock) "bursting with killer riffs and songs" (Classic Rock). The Times of London called it simply "superb," while MOJO said, "His guitar playing is a fire hazard - exceptionally mature and exciting."

In 2006, Lister came to the States to record the Ruf Records collaborative CD with several other label artists, Pilgrimage, at studios in Clarksdale and Memphis, once again working with Jim Gaines, who had produced Aynsley's debut album for the label in 1999. In the fall of 2006, his last album, Everything I Need, was released in the U.S. in preparation for a 2007 American tour. In addition to his CD output for Ruf, Lister has released a live DVD recorded at Germany's "Rockpalast" TV show and was also part of a live DVD recorded with other label artists on the Pilgrimage tour.

Aynsley Lister was brought up on the blues and soul music of his father's record collection and learned to play at 8 years old listening to 45s from Freddie King, John Mayall and Eric Clapton. He played his first gig at 13 and by the time he was 18 had worked in various bands leading to him forming his first group. After recording two albums with that band, Lister caught the ear of Ruf Records president Thomas Ruf, who was particularly impressed with his original songs written for the second of those albums. In the summer of 1998, he officially signed a deal with Ruf and went into the studio with Jim Gaines to record his label debut, which was released in 1999.

Cathy

I'd like to pick up at this point. Aynsley's last album was called "Upside Down" and was released in 2007, his new one "Equilibrium" is to be released in Europe on March 12th (not sure about USA).

Each album has seen a natural progression in Aynsley's song writing (and only one cover on the two albums).  Remember Joe said he is not in the blues business, it's not really fair to praise him for this yet decry others for not sticking to 12 bar blues tunes. Aynsley's new album  is half filled with blues rockers and some songs of other genres, yes a couple of songs could be classed as pop, but there is also a little jazz and folk too.

As for Upside Down with tracks like WIth Me Tonight, Disorderly Me, FInd My Way Home, In The Morning etc, there is plenty there for a blues rock fan so please listen again, certainly there is more blues on the disc than on Sloe Gin (released the same year).

The fact is in the UK, it does not pay to pay straight blues, so Aynsley has had to diversify and broaden the styles that he plays to receive greater recognition (remember Joe has done this with songs like Mountain Time, Asking Around For You and Feelin' Good).

Aynsley is no more likely to recreate Everything I Need than Joe is to recreate Blues Deluxe. So listen with an open mind and you'll love Equilibrium, it features Aynsley's best songs and musicianship yet and best production, see him live and you'll not be disappointed

Listen to this song for evidence, it is loosely blues based, yet a superb song (called Hurricane).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlYXxahwAH8

Hi Eva,

well he does still have a blond bass player but I understand this is a new one. Maybe its a trend for him! Her name is Midus (Pronounced 'Midoosh' and she is Portugese apparently. She is petite and the bass looks as big as her but she is totally in charge of it. She backs up on vocals and smiles the entire time. She is really 'on it' and the bass really grooves. The whole band is super tight. Pleasure to see. At 16 euros for a longish set it doesn't get much better than this.