REVIEW: AYNSLEY LISTER – EYES WIDE OPEN (2016)

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Album number eight is a real triumph

Both on the back of the lyric booklet for “Eyes Wide Open” and also displayed inside – the doubling up might be some psychological re-enforcement of the thought? – are these words: “to me, music isn’t supposed to be perfect, it is supposed to grab you, and move you, both emotionally and physically; it is supposed to connect with you.”

That passage seems to be something of a mission statement for Aynsley Lister on “….Open”, and if it is, the absolutely outstanding “Time” which comes around halfway through this journey of over an hour is its copper bottomed manifesto. The last line of its brilliant chorus: “change tomorrow for today” seems to imbue the whole thinking on the record.

That surely why it takes the chances it does. Maybe it was the praise of the king of modern blues Joe Bonamassa – who took the time to single him out on a visit to the UK –  that convinced Lister to make this record, whatever it was, there’s no doubt that there is a real confidence and cocksure quality to pretty much everything here. Kicking off with the organ drenched “All Of Your Love” is a masterstroke given that immediately takes things into a kind of Cream, late 1960s arena and when Lister unleashes his first solo, you are swept along with it.

There are more overtly blues numbers too, “Everything I Have To Give” – with its clever use of horns – is a real highlight in this regard, but “Il Grande Mafioso” is like nothing he’s ever attempted before. Opening with some glorious Spanish guitar, its soon into some Urban Voodoo Machine like place and is a wonderful diversion.

The variety that has always been evident in his work is to the fore here, but it is simple too. “Won’t Be Taken Down” is nothing less than gorgeous, “Dishevelled” appropriately ragged around the edges, and “Kalina” a shimmering, lilting airy piece, somewhat at odds with its subject matter.

On a record where the man himself spoke of his desire to “rip the guitar”, there is a real Devil May Care attitude to “Handful of Doubt” and the feeling that everyone here just had a great with the track, while the cover of Tommy Castro’s “Right As Rain” has the air of a King King song.

“Stay” which ostensibly finishes things off, has a fine groove, but the bonus track “Hold You To It” is thunderously good fun, funky as you like, different to anything else on offer – but deliberately so – its uplifting and a fine way to end.

Some artists just burst out of the blocks and from the get go are stars, others burn more slowly and that has perhaps been the case with Lister. It isn’t that he’s ever written a bad record. It is absolutely the case, though, that “Eyes Wide Open” is his best by quite some margin.

And that would be the connection he craves.

Rating 8.5/10

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