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This could just be my album of the year…

Norman Darwen

Laura Green—Green Eyed Blues—Independent

Based in Saint Louis, Missouri – and the first few seconds of
this set, before the rocking ‘Bone To Pick’ takes off, are a re-

minder that Saint Louis was a strong blues piano centre – sing-
er Laura Green has here a romping modern blues set. Try ‘It

Ain’t Easy’, which made me think of Sam Cooke’s swinging gos-

pel style or the funky ‘A Reason To Sing The Blues’ – and that is
to mention only a few minutes of the album.

Laura first came to the notice of her local blues community in 2014, and to a wider audience with
the Green McDonough Band a couple of years later. Now she has made her first album under her

own name, and it is certainly worth a listen – or more. She can tackle the mid-tempo R‘n’B of the
BB King inflected ‘Still In Love’ with the same ease she applies to the folky ‘Mama Don’t Cry’ or

the Muddy Waters inflected blues sound of ‘All the King’s Men’. Lovely guitar work here, as on

many of the other tracks.

Then there is another excellent rocker with ‘Baby No More’, ‘That’s Right’ rides a Bo Diddley

beat and sports a very extended guitar break, ‘Pretty Little Thing’ has a hint of rockabilly,
‘Cry’ is a fine, driving blues and the closer. ‘Don’t Know Why’ is an excellent soul-tinged blues

ballad, again with an excellent guitar break.

A rather fine set then, with my only criticism being the lack of information as to who plays

what. All I know is they are local Saint Louis players, and there is some excellent music on
offer here…

Norman Darwen

(www.lauragreenmusic.com)
Rory Gallagher—The Best of Rory Gallagher—UMC

Released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Irish blues-
rock guitarist Rory Gallagher’s death, this double CD release is,
like all “Best Ofs”, a subjective selection. I only saw Rory live on

one occasion, but I would certainly have included his cover of
William Harris’s ‘Bullfrog Blues’ on a set like this. The compiler
disagrees, but I am not going to argue too strongly. After all,
Rory’s brother Donal and his nephew Daniel have both been
very closely involved in this release.