The latest reviews from Kevin Bryan.

Spin Doctors, "Songs From The Road" (Ruf 1212)- The latest audio-visual package  in Ruf's excellent "Songs From The Road" series  focusses attention on the Spin Doctors' gig at Bonn's Harmonie club in October 2013. The bluesy New York rockers have tended to fade from the limelight since their creative heyday in the early nineties but the band are in surprisingly fine fettle here as they  celebrate the delights  of their illustrious back catalogue with a heavily improvised set featuring perennial crowd-pleasers such as  "Two Princes, " "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong."

 

Royal Southern Brotherhood, "Don't Look Back" (Ruf 1215)- The departure of guitar duo Devon Allman and Mike Zito could easily have dealt a fatal body blow to RSB's hopes of continuing success, but on the evidence presented by "Don't Look Back"  the future still  looks reasonably bright for this stylish  southern rock  outfit. New recruits Bart Walker and Tyrone Vaughan acquit themselves admirably as the revamped RSB lineup  serve up their latest  tasty menu of blues, rock, funk and soul for your listening pleasure , peaking with the two opening tracks,  "I Wanna Be Free" and "Reach My Goal."

 

They Might Be Giants, "Glean" (Idlewild Recordings)- John Flansburgh and John Linnell have been delighting their discerning coterie of devotees with their  quirkily memorable approach to music-making since the early eighties, and they recently hit upon the bright idea of reviving their   "Dial-A-Song" service,  which makes a new song and accompanying music video available to punters each week via their website .  The venture appears to have been an unqualified success , and "Glean" brings  together the best of  their 2015  output, including  alternative rock gems such as "Answer, " "Erase" and the piano led "Madam, I Challenge You to a Duel."

 

Jackie Lomax, "Rare, Unreleased and Live, 1965-2012" (Angel Air Records)- Wallasey born  Lomax represents  the classic case of a gifted performer who, for reasons often beyond his control, was never really  able to fulfil his potential  despite being acclaimed  as a  blue eyed soulman of the highest order. This splendid anthology of the  vocalist's work draws on hitherto unreleased recordings made between 1965 and Jackie's untimely death in 2012, including the mellow  Merseysider's  favourite  concert, a particularly appealing  live  set which was captured for posterity at the Savoy in San Francisco in December 1976.