CHUCK BERRY - CHUCK

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Side A = 1. Wonderful Woman   2. Big Boys   3. You Go To My Head   4. 3/4 Time (Enchiladas)   5. Darlin'

Side B = 6. Lady B. Goode   7. She Still Loves You   8. Jamaica Moon   9. Dutchman   10. Eyes Of Man

Decca Records / 00602557561241

Just a few months ago, in March 2017, the great Chuck Berry left the building... but being for sure one of the founding fathers of Rock'n'Roll, he left us his last recordings as a kind of farewell... and here they are in this LP: "Chuck".

Perhaps some could be kind of afraid about the quality of the performance given Mr. Berry's age at the time of recording... but hey! we're talking about Chuck Berry, you know? So everybody be cool.

The record starts with two shots of good, old Rock'n'Roll, pure Chuck Berry at his best: "Wonderful Woman" and "Big Boys" are songs that could have been recorded 60 years ago, back in Chuck's heydays. Absolutely great. Then comes " You Go To My Head", a Blues in which we can be reassured he was in top form when recording this album. Time then for a Hillbilly flavoured song, "3/4 Time (Enchiladas)", in which we can feel he and the band were having good time while recording it. Last cut on side A is another Blues, "Darlin'", just absolutely wonderful regarding lyrics and music.

To begin side B, Chuck Berry goes back to Rock'n'Roll in a kind of tribute to his most famous song, as the title of the one included here is "Lady B. Goode"... and from my point of view here ends the good part of the record. The absolutely great part. Probably there will be people that will love the remaining four songs, but for me those songs are too far away from Chuck Berry's classic anthems both in quality and in style.

Anyway, six astonishing good songs out of ten is not bad at all, isn't it? Ladies and gentlemen, it's Chuck Berry and this should (must) be enough. By the way, Mr. Berry is the composer of all the songs but two.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Berry. Never to be forgotten.

IMELDA MAY - LIFE. LOVE. FLESH. BLOOD

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1. Call Me   2. Black Tears   3. Should've Been You   4. Sixth Sense   5. Human   6. How Bad Can A Good Girl Be   7. Bad Habit   8. Levitate   9. When It's My Time   10. Leave Me Lonely   11. The Girl I Used To Be   12. The Longing   13. Flesh And Blood   14. Game Changer   15. Love And Fear

Decca / 5729629

A lot was said and written even before this record was released: new look, changes in the band, different style...

Now that I have Imelda May's new record and I have been listening to it for the past couple of weeks, I can give my very own oppinion about it, as it should be: it is obvious that there are changes... but they don't seem as "dramatic" to me as some people foresaw. Or at least they are not so for the moment. I mean, yes, the changes regarding Imelda's look (hairstyle and wardrobe) and band members are just evident but, regarding music style... well, yes, this is not a Rockabilly record at all but, when has Imelda May released a pure Rockabilly record? Yes, sure there was some Rockabilly in her previous albums, but there were also a lot of other styles and influences. It is true that Rockabilly is absolutely out of this brand new release and the change of direction seems clear, but we still can find Soul, Blues, Folk, Pop, (plain) Rock and even a little bit of Rock'n'Roll. Time will tell if this change of direction is temporary or definitive.

I'll say it bluntly: "Life. Love. Flesh. Blood" doesn't seem a bad record to me. It is not the best album released by Imelda May, but it is not at all a bad one. It is not the record I "dreamt" to be released by Imelda, but it is enjoyable, specially the ballads and, as a matter of fact, I believe that some of those ballads would fit in any of her previous records without any kind of problem. Easy as that.

And her voice, by the way, is there still. And what a voice!

Note: the track list above belongs to the "collector's edition" cd, being tracks 1 to 11 the ones included in the standard edition and tracks 12 to 15 the bonus tracks.