The music has vitality, emotion and dirt, and it invites you to take part.
This is JD Simo indulging his inner old-school Bluesman. 'Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights' has a sinuous power and a cutting solo with the song overall displaying more nastiness than Pat Travers on his original. The title-track features a Ginger Baker Jazz line from Adam Abrashoff and a walk with bassist Luke Easterling, which allow Simo to explore all of his six strings through a long solo stretch that never bores, and if 'You Need Love' has a rather Blues conformity, it doesn't half swing and then jam stubbornly.
There is indeed a lot of jamming on this effort, but it sounds authentically late sixties and the musicians can simply take off, as they eventually do for 'I Got Love If You Want It', to astound. The contained power in the Cream-y, simmering 'Sweet Little Angel' finds Simo's guitar eventually setting light before it becomes a familiar old Blues trope.
However, the record then signs off with the backbone bass and stabbing guitar of 'Accept', which suddenly judders to a huge Rock moment and reins itself in to softly explore guitar possibilities, almost too much so if I am honest, but when that great band picks back up around the twelve-minute mark, it really takes us home with musical authority.
JD Simo refers to Blues in the album notes as an art form, but the music available on his latest release is never just there to be regarded – it has vitality, emotion and dirt, and it invites you to take part. 'Off at 11'? See you at the after-party.
Steve Swift