Joe Bonamassa: Tales of Time Review

Joe Bonamassa’s New Live Album Tales of Time will be released by J&R Adventures and Provogue/Mascot Label Group on April 14, 2023.  The album was recorded in its entirety over two nights at Colorado’s “Red Rocks Amphitheater” and is available as a CD/DVD, CD/Blu-Ray and a 3LP 180 gram Vinyl album set. Bonamassa performed his most recent 2021album Time Clocks in its entirety along with a half dozen older numbers like “Dust Bowl” and “Mountain Time,” and others for the DVD and Vinyl album. The CD contains ten cuts but like the DVD and vinyl “Pilgrimage” and “Hanging on a Loser” from Time Clocks are replaced with “Just ‘Cos You Can Don’t Mean You Should” and “Evil Mama.”

The band is Bonamassa’s most recent touring band comprised of  Reese Wynans – Keyboards, Mahalia Barnes – Vocals and Percussion, Lemar Carter – Drums and Percussion, Calvin Turner – Bass Guitar, Jade MacRae – Vocals and Percussion, Dannielle DeAndrea – Vocals and Percussion as well as Josh Smith – Guitar. There is a short 55 second intro titled “Dawn of Time” prior to the opening cut “Notches” which is nearly nine minutes long and was co-written with Kevin Shirley and Charlie Starr from “Blackberry Smoke. It kicks the show off with a barnburner from driving drums to screaming guitar peals.

 “The Heart That Never Waits” follows and is a bluesy excursion that is reminiscent of Stevie Ray and was co-written with James House. “Curtain Call” is another lengthy hard driving cut with excellent cinematography recording the performance. In 2022 a video was released of “Mind’s Eye” which was co-written with James House and contains more of the album’s stellar guitar work.

Once again a video of “Questions And Answers” was released in 2022 before the current project. It was co-written by James House and Kevin Shirley with a repetitive beat and almost Latin sound between guitar peals. “The Loyal Kind” was co-written with Bernie Marsden and has a hard rock sound. A video of “Known Unknowns” was released in 2023 that was an excerpt from the DVD recorded at “Red Rocks” as an advance sample from the entire project that was co-written by Bonamassa and Alyssa Bonagura. “Time Clocks” was the title track from the 2021 album and co-written by Bonamassa and Kevin Shirley as an exercise in pushing the envelope. “Just ‘Cos You Can Don’t Mean You Should” gives Wynans a chance to shine before Bonamassa shreds his fret board to a driving beat. The last cut on the CD is “Evil Mama” another co-write with Tom Hambridge and Shirley that is a jam to high heaven followed by Bonamassa’s scalding pyrotechnic guitar peals

As already mentioned the DVD and vinyl had a half dozen additional cuts ranging from the short intro and conclusion to standards like “Mountain Time,” “Dust Bowl,” “The Ballad of John Henry” and a cover of Gary Moore’s “Midnight Blues.” After attending a thousand live shows over the past 60 years I’ve learned to appreciate ambience but with the pandemic came live internet concerts. No matter how well it is filmed and the sound is reproduced, watching a show from a screen will never hold a candle to the live show. However, this is as good as it gets if you couldn’t be there, like “Woodstock.” 

The Review: 9.5/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Notches
– Curtain Call
– Mind’s Eye
– Time Clocks
– Evil Mama

The Big Hit

– Notches

Buy the album: Amazon