Another no brainer to recommend this to old and new fans alike.
To be honest, I didn't know who Gerry Laffy was until several months ago when he sent me the first of his solo albums. Research (aka Google) filled in the gaps on the guy, and if you're as ignorant as I was I can tell you he used to play guitar in the nearly-made-it UK rock band Girl. There was other stuff, but the Girl connection is the reason people still give a damn about him. Me? I was never a fan of Girl back in the day, but these days I have a healthy respect for both the band and the man.
Laffy's previous album must have kick-started something inside of him, because 'Wrecked But Not Crushed' comes less than six months after many rave reviews for its predecessor. It certainly piles on the guitar licks throughout, delivering eleven tracks that are swimming in six-string stings, kept afloat by Laffy's surprisingly (for a guitarist) effective vocals. Laffy wrote all the tracks except for 'Dope', which is an old Power Station growler, and as an interesting side note a passing chap asked me if I was listening to Alice In Chains this morning whilst I was playing said track. Make of that what you will...
This album certainly does have a more grungy feel than 'Just A Little Blurred', but this is mixed up with melodic lifts ('Piranha Nirvana') and even pure bluesy rock and roll ('Another Man'). For a man who has seen a lot of life, having been there and done that six times over, the title is a poignantly accurate one, and it is yet another no brainer to recommend this to old and new fans alike.
'Wrecked...' comes with a previously unreleased Girl live album from 1980, both for the bargain sum of a fiver (plus p&p) from Gerry Laffy's Facebook page, so get over there now and order it.
Alan Holloway
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