Joe Bonamassa
Royal Tea

Among the works of Bonamassa that I own, "Royal Tea" is the one that departs the most from his usual cliché of re-performer and re-arranger of old rock pages closely tied to the blues. Meanwhile, in this fourteenth album of his, there are no covers, an absolute rarity for him… The tracks are also quite diverse, guitar solos are brief and contained, vocal delivery relaxed and full, sonorous, with the youthful hoarseness completely gone. In short, it's the right album for those who want to hear less blues and more melodic yet robust rock, less sectarian and more accessible, almost commercial in certain episodes.

Besides, it is Joe's English album, highlighted with great pomp even on the cover. He went to record it in 2020 at Abbey Road in London, the absolute temple of music, elevated to the empyrean since the last century and for eternity essentially for having given birth to a substantial part of the production of the Beatles and the Pink Floyd, simply the two most universally esteemed entities in rock history.

Abbey Road also means great orchestras (the studio A hall is enormous and its acoustics celebrated always even in the symphonic field) and “When One Door Opens” promptly opens the album with a flood of strings. It is a kind of tripartite suite, with sung and orchestral parts interrupted in the middle by an instrumental portion on the border with heavy metal! All this lasting over seven minutes and with the blues kept very, very in the background.

It turns out that Bonamassa, since he was in London, got help writing a good part of the album from two old hands of those parts. The first is the "poet" Pete Brown, the one from Cream to be clear. The second Bernie Marsden, guitarist and composer as talented as he is ugly, especially now that he is old. He was the real force of the English Whitesnake… one day I will decide to review a gem of an album that sees him as the absolute protagonist, namely "Burst the Bubble" by the Company of Snakes, year 2002.

Quickly the rest: "Royal Tea" the song is a shuffle with some surprising chords here and there, and the blues kept again at a distance. "Why It Takes So Long to Say Goodbye" is instead a blues ballad with variations… beautiful!: thematic richness, class, measure, passion, attention. "Lookout Man" tells me little, it's rocky and claustrophobic rock blues with harmonica laments, and the uniqueness of two drummers pounding together. Same story of anonymity and poor ability to stay in mind for "High Class Girl."

"A Conversation with Alice" is very beautiful, clear, glorious, savory, sonorous, powerful. Pure hard rock, well arranged. Even "I Didn't Think She Would Do It" isn't bad, very "commercial," Bonamassa at his minimum as a niche blues guitarist and at his maximum as a rock songwriter and frontman. "Beyond the Silence," all his without any help, is an intense mid-tempo, with an animated voice a la Thunder (who? Go discover them or rediscover them).

"Lonely Boy" is fast fast rock'n'roll, with brass section and honky tonk piano, just like the closing "Don’t Hand Me Your Hangups", of the same somewhat stereotypical breed. On the other hand, "Savannah" is a wonderful country blues. Southern to be fearsome… after all, it celebrates a city in Georgia. Delicious mandolin flurries here and there, and a longing for Greg Allman in the vocals. I wish!

In "Don't You Do Me No Favours" Bonamassa this time seeks the style of Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs in their Bad Company, with a relaxed and minimalist rock blues that intensifies in the chorus, very difficult to sing. Another "commercial" piece, with an attached Ralphsian little solo (long, wise notes, great sound), unmissable.

Four stars as always, for the reliable four-eyes. And I've finished with Bonamassa… sorry for the trolls. There are three other albums ("Different Shades of Blue," "Blues of Desperation," and "Redemption") but I don't own them yet. I also inform that his fifteenth work "Time Clocks" is about to be released. You take care of that.