Joe Bonamassa - Royal Tea

Tenebrous

I'll be honest, I was never a fan of his music (as it always gave off that dentist weekend "blues" vibe), but at least I could respect the effort. This...? This is just shocking.

RandallFlagg

He's not all bad, this is great and Jade MacRae in the backing singers line up is a real looker,

https://youtu.be/kUJsi4vuGjY

skullfunkerry

He's better at playing the blues than George Lynch:

soma1975

Music to be played on a 'Keeping the Blues Alive' cruise while not disturbing punters eating their 'authentic blues food' meals.

p90fool

EricTheWeary said:

 Jools Holland guesting, almost the definition of desperation. 

If I could be arsed to have a sig, this would be it.

Kilgore

soma1975 said:

Music to be played on a 'Keeping the Blues Alive' cruise while not disturbing punters eating their 'authentic blues food' meals.

They need to put their life jackets on. That ship is going down. 

PonchoGreg

Oh my, that Lookout track is bad. His vocals really don't suit this, regardless of the terrible lyrics.But even with a more suitable singer, the music/production is just oh so low energy... Urgh.

Seziertisch

There is kind of a Joe Exotic vibe off those tracks

EricTheWeary

Rabs said:

So generic...

I think if you are looking for cutting edge you’re definitely looking in the wrong place. 

I find it slightly confusing that it's his return to British blues album ( and there is a nod to Jeff beck in the middle of that) but the production is this soft rock splodge. If you want to sound like The Jeff Beck Group there's a simpler formula ( starting with sacking Kevin Shirley) although Joe seems to do okay for himself so what do I know... 

Seziertisch

YourArsenal87 said:

StefB said:

Strat54 
Oh and don't get me started on Kevin Shirley and his compressed production.......

The sheer number of good rock records that guy has murdered is bewildering.

Totally destroyed recent Iron Maiden & Europe albums with his lifeless mixes yet seems to be a go-to guy, I just don’t get it?

Agreed, Shirley is dire. His mixes make my ears bleed. I don’t get his appeal at all. 

I listened to the tracks on the built-in speakers on my phone and they were clear and punchy. Therein lies the problem, I think. Like much of modern music the mixes are optimised to sound good on less than ideal listening mediums, like phones and cheap Bluetooth speakers. By comparison, older more dynamic mixes tend to get lost on such crappy playback set ups.

soma1975

Kilgore said:

soma1975 said:

Music to be played on a 'Keeping the Blues Alive' cruise while not disturbing punters eating their 'authentic blues food' meals.

They need to put their life jackets on. That ship is going down. 

It's just one more group jam with Josh Smith and Kirk Fletcher away from sinking tbf. 

smfacer

Have been a big fan for a long time and had high hopes for this supposedly British blues influenced album especially after the Blues explosion live tour, but I have to agree with most on this thread, it's just a bit... 'meh'.  JB is definitely more of a 'live' act than an album artist, the energy he has on stage is missing from the most recent recordings

Loobs

Absolute toilet. I wish to God he'd retire. 

Strat54

I'm sure deep down he knows his material is shite...alas there's a vast army of over 50's that subscribe to it and he reaps huge rewards from that. 
I saw a fresh interview the other day with him where he stated after such a lay-off he's not sure whether he can be that guy in the suit again.

LastMantra

RandallFlagg said:

“Look out man, I’m coming down the pike”

I think he looks a bit like Adrian Chiles.

Schnozz

I think Black Country Communion was the best thing that JoBo has done...And that cover of Deep Purple's 'Lazy' with Jimmy Barnes.

Schnozz

He was charging £100 a ticket in Carlisle - You can buy a house for that there.

Loobs

In all seriousness, what is the appeal of players like Bonamassa? Is it just chops? 

skullfunkerry

Loobs said:

In all seriousness, what is the appeal of players like Bonamassa? Is it just chops? 

I do genuinely like a few of his songs - the Blues of Desperation and Sloe Gin albums are both pretty good, and the Black Country Communion albums are great.

Other opinions are of course available though

Loobs

Does it bring anything to the table that wasn't done much better in the 60s and 70s?