Back to the Blues

Six years after his successful tribute to Peter Green, Gary Moore follows with another solid electric blues-rock effort that falls squarely in line with his similarly themed albums Still Got the Blues, After Hours, and Blues Alive. Although he adds brass on a rollicking version of B.B. King's "You Upset Me Baby," Moore predominantly sticks to the basics here, pounding out energetic and full-bodied blues-rock and leading a stripped-down trio with a journeyman's enthusiasm and his trademark thick, sustained guitar solos slashing through the proceedings. The majority of the tracks are originals, although even the best of them sound suspiciously like rewritten blues standards. "Cold Black Night" is little more than a speeded-up "Messin' With the Kid," and "Picture of the Moon" sounds awfully similar to Moore's own "Still Got the Blues." And whether the world needs yet another version of "Stormy Monday" or "I Ain't Got You" is debatable. But Moore pulls off even the most clichéd material with his phenomenal prowess; supple, identifiable vocals; and a guitar tone that effortlessly shifts from a Santana/Peter Green-styled hovering intensity to a slashing Stevie Ray Vaughan attack. While Moore isn't redefining the genre or even his own approach to it, he's adding his stamp to blues-rock with Back to the Blues. Consistently rugged, moving, and heartfelt, the album is a reminder that even without reinventing an established musical style, an artist can effectively work within its boundaries to produce a satisfying, if not quite fresh, interpretation relying solely on talent and passion.