Bare Bones Boogie Band: Blue Review

With their second album, London’s Bare Bones Boogie Band have produced a raw, undiluted blues album that has all the right elements of poignant, disheartening love songs, tight and effortless execution, and one extraordinary voice. The band (Helen Turner on lead vocals, Iain Black on guitar, Trev Turley on bass, and Andy Jones on Drums) have only been around for a few years now, but Blue is damn near flawless in its soulful blues.

Much of the bands brilliance is carried through the talent of Helen Turner’s vocals. She has a great range and a gorgeous, sultry voice most evident in their rendition of the Rolling Stones’ song “Love In Vain,” and in the track “Wings,” in which her voice soars all over the place. She certainly steals the show throughout the record. However this is not to take anything away from the band around her; many of the tracks are beautifully crafted, bitter love songs that are very emotive in the musical tone and through the vocals; “Fallin’ For The Foolin’’ and “Mean Old Man” are perfect examples of the wonderful blues love songs that they perform brilliantly. The music playing is exemplary throughout with some tight rhythm playing between the drums and bass, and some wonderfully subtle riffs played by guitarist Iain Black in the slightly more upbeat, rocky tracks “Second Hand Hand-Me Down” and “Sittin’ Here Sewin’’ that are very effective to the songs. Every track on this album is a delight to listen to; the soulfulness and striking blues that is implemented here is outstanding.

Bare Bones Boogie Band will be almost certainly a crowd pleaser in live performances perhaps just on how hypnotizing Turner’s voice is, but as a whole the music is excellent and there isn’t an element of this record to dislike. Bare Bones Boogie Band’s Blue is an album to highly recommend to any blues enthusiast.

The Review: 9/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Fallin’ For Foolin’
– Sittin’ Here Sewin’
– Mean Old Man
– Wings
– A Little Bit More
– Love In Vain

The Big Hit

– Second Hand Hand-Me Down

Review by Josh May