REVIEW: DANNY WORSNOP – SHADES OF BLUE (2019)

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Call it the Rob Zombie effect if you like, but I’ve never quite understood why you’d go solo and have your music sound the same as the day job.

I remember being gutted when White Zombie split up, then “Hellbilly Deluxe” came out and you thought, ok, spot the difference.

Now, a couple of years ago I received an album to review by Danny Worsnop. It was Americana of the highest order. I assumed he was steeped in it. He wasn’t.

I admitted then, that I had never heard of Asking Alexandria or We Are Harlot – the bands he was in before the “Long Road Home” record came out. I see no shame in admitting here that after that review I listened to both, and neither were my thing.

But that’s cool, and that’s probably the point too. Worsnop is very obviously a brilliant songwriter, and he needed this other avenue.

Fast forward a couple of years and damn him, the mad chameleon, if he hasn’t got another solo record. And “Shades Of Blue” by the way, is not only better than the last one, it also has a totally different vibe.

This time, if you want a headline: Danny Does The Blues is basically it, but its not just that – and its not just any old blues either. “Little Did I Know” is about as chilled as Eric Clapton dipping his toes in a Caribbean beach, and if this is blues then you’d best believe its blues with a whole dollop of soul too.

Thing is, the boy, well, he’s only just getting started.

“Best Bad Habit” – the absolute stand out jewel in a record full of them – is something akin to a cross between Eli Reed, Southside Johnny and a New Orleans second line, and its chorus, yeah. That too.

“Tomorrow” is not only deep in melancholic, almost Counting Crows country, it trumps them all, by being the only ballad of its type in the history of recorded music where the singer is doing the dumping (“she’s done nothing wrong, she just ain’t right for me…..”) and all the pathetic losers amongst us have their (our, ok…. I admit it) “it’s her loss anyway” anthem.

Many of them here rely on the keyboards, and whilst “Keep On Lovin’” is no exception, it also gets its funk on and its slap basis the best I’ve heard this side of …”Shaft?” I dunno, I’ve got no reference here. Whatever, its funky as all hell. That’s a fact.

Now, you see, the thing is, his last record was ace, and “Am I A Fool” (probably an admission he never actually dumped the girl in “Tomorrow”?) bridges the gap between the two. It has an arena shaker of a chorus, and it is a mighty thing in truth.

This is, though, a collection of twists and turns. “I’ve Been Down” is fragile, and is almost enveloped in the darkness. That Worsnop is able to follow this up with “Edge Of Goodbye” – a duet with the air of Muscle Shoals about it – tells you all you need to know about this incredible talent.

If it needed a big, lush ballad then “Heaven Is A Long Way Down” will do just fine, “Tell Her” is a foray back into the dirt roads of the heartland, but it is “Ain’t Feeling Sorry” that convinces this is the real deal. The Universal nature of the lyrics belies a real personal pain. He had a stillborn daughter a few years back and to mention her here is brave and emotional.

He has battled with depression all kinds of things over the years, and perhaps because he’s come through that, he ends on a real cathartic moment, “I Don’t Feel Sorry” southern rock in the vein, perhaps of  Black Stone Cherry, it’s key line: “its all my fault, can’t you tell…” resonates far beyond.

“Shades Of Blue” actually has all kinds of colours, but one thing shines through. Never mind the bands he’s in or the fact he lives in America. Danny Worsnop is one of the finest UK singer songwriters around right now.

Rating 9/10

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