Sunday, October 03, 2004


Blues Explosion - Damage (Mute LP).
When the JSBX first arrived on European shores about a decade ago they played some of the most jawdropping/exciting shows I have ever witnessed, but good as their early records are, they never really captured the on-stage insanity, and after a couple of years the band seemed to have burned out and started a somewhat unsatisfactory flirt with dance-music.
So surprise, surprise, when this one landed on my doorstep and turned out to be not only a stonkin' return to form, but easily their best record yet. A kaleidoscope of sounds that incorporates just about every musical by-way of the past 50 years into a, for want of a better word, "organic" whole. And yeah, the dance influx is still there as well but now adds instead of distracts, whether it be a Chuck D rap or a DJ Shadow mix, it all fits perfectly into the BX's original gameplan of mixin' Charley Feathers with Hound Dog Taylor.
Think of this as their Exile On Mainstreet without the excessive baggage of a 2 disc set. Yep, it's that good...

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