Rating: 4/5
Review:
A good album, but not quite a brilliant one
I like this album, but it's not quite as brilliant as I'd hoped.
Jools and Ruby is a good album, no doubt about it. The orchestra are on good form and there's a smile-inducing rockin' feel to the whole thing with (as you'd expect) some fine gospel-tinged singing from both Ruby Turner and the backing singers, who are excellent. But you know that sense you sometimes get where you think "Yeah, nice. It's just..."
Jools Holland and Ruby Turner are both terrific musicians and I though Ruby's brilliant contributions to the excellent Sirens Of Song album were among the very best .Both are good here, but overall the album lacks just a little of the zing and sparkle I was really hoping for. It's hard to put my finger on it; it may be that some of the material is a little weak, perhaps Jools's piano work is just a little too jokey and not quite gutsy enough…I'm not sure.
I don't want to go on too much because it's a personal feeling and there's some fine music here. You'd have to have a musical heart of stone to dislike this album and many people may not share my slightly reserved feeling about it and may well love it. My advice is to try it, but my recommendation comes with a slight reservation.
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