Joe Bonamassa
You & Me

Bonamassa is obsessive-compulsive. On his fifth album (2006), for the fifth time he uses one of the covers in the tracklist to give it a title. This time, however, he is cunning enough to hide it, albeit partially: the seventh track of the album is indeed named “Django,” but has the subtitle “inspired from Vous et Moi” and correctly grants the copyright to the original composers of the tune, dating back to 1942 and performed on guitar and even violin by the genius Franco-Belgian gypsy Django Reinhardt.

Bonamassa transforms the original violin lament by extracting the strong and peculiar melody, then his imagination, ability, and attention to the right sound, the right combination between guitar and amplifier, manage to create magnificence. The instrument must be a Fender Stratocaster (you can hear the work of the whammy bar, though sparingly…). No pick: strings and other guitar parts gripped by the fingers and “worked on” with admirable sensitivity and musicality, barely touched while controlling the amp trigger at the same time, which is surely set to maximum chaos to react to the slightest inducement, as well as suitably stiffened by a strong echo. We are very, very much in the realm of Jeff Beck, both in style and… skill: Joe also engineers to make the open strings resonate by tapping on the back of the neck, or the headstock; a trick invented by that usual guy (Jimi Hendrix, who else) and brought by Beck to the level of fine arts. In short, a track to listen to, and to enjoy.

The novelty of this work is Kevin Shirley coming in as the producer. Called “Caveman” because he never moves from the enclosed and artificially lit environment of a recording studio, this man is the best one can offer in the production profession in terms of sound naturalness and the pursuit of it through vintage instruments and equipment. Ideal for Bonamassa, who has always been “born old” as a musician, guitarist, and composer, and indeed, the two recognized each other as brothers and from this album onward every, I mean every one of his works will have this South African with the sharpest ears as the factotum on this side of the control room glass.

Among the covers (a whole seven this time, out of eleven tracks in total), the choice of “Tea For One” by Led Zeppelin stands out, a slow and dreamy blues with daring false starts and various delays, appeared in its original version on “Presence” in 1976: personally, I've never been thrilled by it… let's say the second least successful blues in the Zeppelin's career (the first being “Hats Off to Roy Harper”). However, Joe showcases all his recent progress in vocals, decidedly firmer, fuller, more powerful, and extensive compared to his beginnings. One can finally admire it fully on “Asking Around For You,” penned by himself: a very stereotypical slow soul blues but, indeed, sung very well, with all the right “bends.”

“High Water Everywhere” by the ancient Charlie Patton (stuff from 1929) is well transformed, embellished by a beautiful brand-new riff, tense and digging. The incontinent Bonamassa, true to form, garnishes it with a hum chorus in pure Cream style: Jack Bruce waves from his cloud. “So Many Roads” follows immediately, making a bad impression because two slow blues tracks, the second then seven minutes long, become tiresome even though this second one sounds different, less soul and more rock, piercing guitars instead of round ones: Joe, possessed, in Gary Moore's range, ferociously tearing at strings with his super-toned hands. No trace of Otis Rush, the original performer… Bonamassa is indeed very “seventies.”

Almost, not always, because for instance, “I Don’t Believe” is rendered like the original, only with the latest possible bombastic sounds, and even the introspective “Temp Em Up Solid”, just voice acoustic guitar and dobro, is respectful of its author and performer the great Ry Cooder.

The acoustic instrumental episode of high energy ragtime comes again towards the end and is called “Palm Trees Helicopters and Gasoline”: nice title and a beautiful guitar workout. After it, to end, two further vigorous soul blues and rock blues invocations respectively, both garnished with harmonica, solid and conformist so much that I'm not even bothering to name them.

The usual four-star album by Bonamassa, skilled and enterprising but still not essential. In these difficult times, however, one needs to hold onto him tightly.