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That all-so-important heart and soul
Blues Rock Review (somewhat belatedly) reviews Simon McBride’s Recordings 2020 – 2025 that came out a few months ago.
While hype around this collection of personal tracks (a original material and covers) has been very much hush hush (Deep Purple pun intended), it’s an exciting and intriguing glimpse into McBride’s accomplished, passionate, and versatile guitar playing,
The reincarnations on this LP are certainly a tick for the latter, with the Belfash native taking a straight ahead rock approach to songs by the likes of Free, Duran Duran, and…..Bill Withers. Funnily enough, it’s the Withers cover “Grandma’s Hands” (originally recorded by Bill Withers) that’s the biggest triumph. McBride’s hands and creativity bring funk, groove, and bluesy lines, without pumping out that all-so-important heart and soul.
Read more in Blues Rock Review.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I had the CD in my car for a while and its the kind of music pleasant to drive to. Not earth-shattering, not a reinvention of rock’n’roll and blues, just pleasant and well-recorded and produced, both the covers and the own stuff. I like his voice and I wish they’d do more with it within DP. Simon is no Glenn Hughes (Don’t worry, I hear the catcalls: “So much the better, Uwe!” 😁), but he could take a little burden of Big Ian’s shoulders (and vocal cords) and bring in some harmony singing in DP – it’s not like there is a law stipulating that DP can’t have harmony vocals live! Roger and Steve never could do them proper, but Simon just might.
June 17th, 2025 at 03:47