Savoy Brown

Ain’t Done Yet

(Quarto Valley Records)

9/10

By Robert Corich


Following on from the wonderful Witchy Feelin’ released in 2017 and 2019’s solid City Night, this latest offering from Savoy Brown does not disappoint. This is an album that grabs you from the start and keeps you entertained for 47 minutes over ten great songs. It’s not all killer, but there’s certainly no filler on this latest release from the 'Brown'.


I listened to the album a score of times before the phone call was made to Kim Simmonds in America, so I was well acquainted with the tracks by the time we spoke. The album opens with the vibrant All Gone Wrong which certainly creates that warm feeling one likes to encounter when first playing a new album. The second song in is the more laid back Devil's Highway, which is a cracking heavy blues track delivered in that slightly sleazy way that Kim Simmonds is so good at doing.

River On The Rise beautifully continues the laid back tone before kicking into some smouldering Trower-esque blues on Borrowed Time. Ain’t Done Yet also features some sublime but rather brilliant shuffling blues. This is a track that, when interviewing Kim, I was assured that he certainly wasn’t done yet by any means.

Feels Like A Gypsy and its soft and flowing delivery sounds like something Clapton might have included during some of his more recent gentler moments. Mind you, I reckon it’s better than anything Eric has delivered in many a year by a country mile.

Jaguar Car is in a similar vein to the shuffling blues that first brought ZZ Top to the world's attention in the mid-seventies. If only the Top would record something like this nowadays! Rocking In Louisiana even has faint reminiscences of Led Zep within its grooves.

Soho Girl is another great sleepy blues shuffle that fits so well as the penultimate track on this album. As a closer, the beautiful tones of Crying Guitar just made me want to play the whole thing again which, of course, I did.

This album is a real gem and really does having something for everyone within its bluesy grooves. The irony being with Kim Simmonds delivering songs that, at times remind of others, is that he was doing it all long before most of them anyway.

The fact is, Ain't Done Yet is the best album Savoy Brown has produced since the band's seminal 1970 album Looking In. Anyone who loves rock ‘n’ blues should make this an essential purchase. It will not disappoint.


Tracklisting:


All Gone Wrong
Devil's Highway
River On The Rise
Borrowed Time
Ain’t Done Yet
Feel Like A Gypsy
Jaguar Car
Rocking In Louisiana
Soho Girl
Crying Guitar