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and urges the populace to grab their AR-15’s and get him, before he disappears

down a chimney!

The delightful laid back shuffling instrumental ‘Snow Shuffle’ mixes some fine
harmonica with sweetly sounding horns. The reggae infused ‘Coquito Girl’, fea-

tures some splendid atmospheric trombone work. ‘Where’ll I Be for Christmas?’,
is a reworking of the number George and Charlie Baty recorded in 2018, here, it is
comfortingly ensconced in a warm harmonica, guitar and horns led shuffling blues.

The instrumental ‘Fireside Waltz’, is exactly what you might expect, a comfortingly
warm, mellow festive waltz. As you would expect of a blues album the ‘Thee Three
Kings’, has nothing to do with Christmas but about Albert, B.B. and Freddie, I’ll say

no more.

Well worth a listen.

Brian Harman.

Van Morrison—Accentuate the Positive—Exile ASIN
: 0CGCHMN28

I’m not the biggest Van Morrison fan after a few dodgy

live experiences but I really enjoyed his album ‘Moving
on Skiffle’ from earlier this year and on this new record
he ‘moves on’ to covers of 1950s rock and roll, R&B and
country – and his love of the music is again clearly

apparent. While ‘Moving on Skiffle’ provided the old
skiffle classics with new arrangements here Van plays

the songs more or less straight and without any vocal
gymnastics. I did see one review which referred to these as “lazy covers” but like
‘Moving on Skiffle’ these songs are all beautifully played, with some like Bill Haley’s
‘Two Hound Dogs’ being better than the originals. The Everly’s ‘When Will I Be

Loved’ is given a slight reggae feel, Louis Jordan’s ‘I Want A Roof Over My Head’ is
wonderfully jazzy with great Hammond organ which also underpins Johnny Kidd

and the Pirates’ ‘Shakin’ All Over’.

Chris Farlowe adds his vocals on Johnny Burnette’s ‘Lonesome Train’ which also
features Jeff Beck burning it up on guitar in one of his last recordings. We also get

rocking versions of Big Joe Turner’s ‘Flip, Flop and Fly’ (more great organ), Chuck
Berry’s ‘Bye Bye Johnny’, Fats Domino’s ‘Blueberry Hill’ and Little Richard’s ‘Luci-
lle’ – complete with guitar and vocals from Taj Mahal. It’s not all balls-to-the-wall

rocking though Don Gibson’s ‘Sea of Heartbreak’ isn’t exactly slow but it does have
a nice melancholy quality and Arthur Alexander’s ‘A Shot of Rhythm and Blues’ is
also taken at a relaxed mid-tempo. One aspect of the album I wasn’t too keen on