Boom! Bang! Twang!
Steve Ellis
Sony
Of all the doormats in all the towns in
all the world, this flopped onto mine. I’m very happy it did, except for a
heartbeat, I thought my brother had made the leap from karaoke to compact disc
and I was being played.
As soon as I played the piano-led ballad
Black Sheep Boy, I knew I was listening to a vocalist of distinction. It’s the
same voice which took Everlasting Love by Love Affair to the top of the charts
fifty years ago. Like Rod Stewart, Steve Ellis has also looked after his
instrument. Boom! Bang! Twang! is his third solo album release in ten years and
he is well respected by his peers including Roger Daltrey, Peter Frampton and
producer of the album, Paul Weller.
Together they have produced an album with
a slick array of styles that has flow, vitality and depth in spades. Soul Trek
(Holy Blue) includes strings and trumpets, Sitting in Limbo is reggae. Two songs
Tobacco Ash Sunday and Lonely No More could easily have come from Weller’s
Stanley Road sessions with their upbeat melodies and a hint of nostalgia.
Life has conspired against this artist but
he has shown that the best things are worth waiting for. The gospel-tinged Glory Bound
and the haunting Oh Death which would have even Delta Bluesmen murmuring
approval, close an album that outshines artists a third of his age.
NE
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