Rating: 5/5
Review:
A cracker from Wilko and Roger
This is a cracking album, I think. It's good, solid British R&B (in the old sense) with two geniuses of the genre on fine form. Seeing The Who at Charlton in 1974 and Dr Feelgood (twice) at close range in the Cambridge Corn Exchange around the same time remain among the great musical experiences of my life even 40 years on, and while Wilko, Daltrey and I are all old gits now, it's good to see that at least two out of the three of us have still got the old magic.
There is a mix of old Dr Feelgood songs, Wilko's own stuff and one Dylan cover in Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window. I think it's a joy from start to finish. They open with Going Back Home which Daltrey delivers (brilliantly) with a Brilleaux-esque growl way down in his throat (Wilko bends a string and that's all she wrote, of course) but it's recognisably his own take on it. Later in a fantastic Keep It Out Of Sight he really goes for the full Daltrey singing an octave above Brilleaux and, as Pete Townshend once memorably said of Love Reign O'er Me, Roger gives it his bollocks. It's just great stuff all the way through.
Wilko is...well, Wilko. Brilliant, distinctive and perhaps slightly more solid and less bonkers than of old, he chops and hits that great beat like a teenager and in my mind he's still staring like a madman and moving around the stage as though he's on casters. Just perfect. The two of them and a very, very good band produce something really good here. Anyone with any interest in this type of music will love this and fans certainly won't be disappointed. This may well be Wilko's swan song and the decision to close the album with All Through The City is inspired.
If this is Wilko's last album it is one he can be proud of. Thanks for this, and for everything, Wilko. Go well.
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