This double-album from Ireland’s premier bluesman features eleven new tracks, a sprinkling of previous faves, and a CD of mostly harmonica-led instrumentals. It’s Baker’s most adventurous offering to date, touches of jazz, soul, Irish trad, country and reggae spicing up his normal diet of blues rock. Tracks are recorded solo or with a full-tilt boogie band and variations inbetween, and Baker is blessed with the guitar company he keeps, Jimmy Faulkner, Jimmy Smith, Gerry Hendrick and jazz hero Louis Stewart all shining.
‘The Holy Vow’ cuts to the bone, Aisling Drury Byrne’s cello an unsettling counterpoint to Baker’s graphic depiction of child abuse. ‘The Politician’ is a timely put-down of the criminals who run the country, while Baker seethes with anger on Big Bill Broonzy’s anti-racism ‘Black, Brown and White Blues’.
He less successfully covers ‘You’ll Never Know’ as a tribute to his father, while ‘Sea Of Heartbreak’ may now be over-familiar to fans. ‘Me And Louis’ is an appealing instrumental based around a Baker/Stewart studio jam, ‘Goodtime Woman’ hints at cool jazz edging close to Jerry Fish territory, the tender ‘Maria’ is aided by Eric Coates’ melodic bass, and Kevin Moloney’s mandolin turns ‘Wouldn’t Treat A Dig’ into “bluesgrass”. The instrumental ‘Amazing Grace’ restores some spirituality to a karaoke cliche, Charlie McCoy’s ‘Funky Duck’ and ‘Baker’s Shaker’ rock out in fine style, and the solo harmonica piece ‘Jiggin’ the Blues’ has an exhilaratingly subtle Irish trad-gets-the-blues vibe.