Former Mama’s Boy Pat McManus’ latest release is a collection of authentic blues and blistering rock, bristling with nuance and creativity. ‘Walking Shoes’ is a crumpled-raincoat-shuffling-through-sodden-streets blues ballad with a solo that is delicate and disappearing, spilling broken dreams all over the fretboard. The smoky whiskey-soaked vocals on ‘Short, Sharp, Shock’ are a perfect counterpoint to a strutting riff that is all swank and swagger.
As expected, the playing on this album is sublime. ‘The Riddle’ has an AC/DC-style bar-room boogie that finger taps into an other worldy Satriani-esque segue before slamming a closing time bourbon shot.
The paths trodden may be familiar, but the views are different. ‘Oldest Rocker’ is a tongue-in-cheek, jaunty, jazzy blues ramble mixing Django Reinhardt with a pinch of country that conjures up images of Neil Young scowling at a Gatsby-era party.
An album of Power and Passion.