Bobtje Blues
January 2007
John O'Leary band "Sins" JOLCD001
John O’Leary is one of the ol’
guys responsible for the British Blues revival in the sixties,
we should be grateful to them. John was the co-founder of The Savoy
Brown Blues Band and played with other famous Blues people (i.e.
Champion Jack Dupree, John Dummer). Now there is this, his second
solo album ‘Sins’. However, he puts it in perspective: this is an
album from The John O’Leary Band. And that band is world
class. It is also an international band with (German) Joachim Greve
(drums) and (Belgian) Dominique Vantomme on the keys.
Guitar player Jules Fothergill produced
the CD in an excellent way (he also did the graphics of the CD cover
but maybe he shouldn’t have done that too!). The John O’Leary
Band applies many styles; most remarkable are the jazzy ones with a
firm dose of rock (‘Blue Water’, ‘Waiting For You’). The
music making is of a very is high level, especially Fothergill’s
guitar (as usual) who plays the stars out of heaven here; think
about Robben Ford and Carlos Santana. There’s also some thrifty but
splendid Hammond & piano playing by Vantomme and top quality
versions of classics like ‘Black Cat Bone’ and Howlin’ Wolf’s
‘Who’s Been Talking’ with it’s delicate and to the point
harmonica work in a minor key by O’Leary. Backing vocalists Rietta
Austin and Lorna Reilly do a good job on ‘Blue Water’ and on the
party gospel ‘Save My Soul’. There are also two instrumentals,
the 70’s jazz-rock like ‘And Everything’, which reminds us of
Focus, and the funky ‘Chiswick Roundabout’ where Fothergill goes
all the way. ‘Sins’ is not a masterpiece, as some of the songs
are too thin, but the abilities of the musicians are so high to such
an extent that this album is a pleasure. Hats off to John O’Leary
who gives considerable liberty to the respective musicians and for
doing what he does best, playing the harmonica in the best possible
way.