The first album in a decade could have come out at any point in the last 40 years
Ronnie Baker Brooks might have cut his teeth playing on the road with his influential father, Lonnie (who appears on this), opening for likes of Clapton and B.B King, but this is his first record in ten years has got other sonic issues on its mind.
A clue to this comes in two forms. First most of the players here are from a soul background (R & B icon Angie Stone is also here) and on the title track there is a rapper, Memphis native Al Kapone. This was what Brooks was after on this album too, speaking about how he wanted “Times Have Changed” to “build a bridge.”
When it is at its best, it does that too. The opener foray “Show Me” merges blues to soul in a way that so many from Otis Redding to Southside Johnny to modern exponents like Nathaniel Rateliff do. “Doing Too Much” is a darker track, but one which is no less worthy of praise and Brooks’ playing here is of the top draw and the aforementioned title track is a wonderful affair and the best example of the five self penned tracks on offer.
The trouble – to these ears anyway – is that there’s a few tracks here that don’t work on album. There’s no doubt that the cover of Alvin Cash’s “Twine Time” was probably fun to play, Curtis Mayfield’s slinky “Give Me Your Love” is seductive and “Give The Baby (What The Baby Wants) is lovingly conceived, but personal taste being what it is, they don’t quite cut it for MV.
Far better are the funky “Long Story Short”, the all out fun of “Come On Up” and the sassy “Wham Bam Thank You Sam” all of which are the crossover classics that Brooks has been trying to make here.
He even ends this with one. “When I Was We” is a gorgeous ballad and a fitting conclusion to a record that is never less than compelling.
A collection that is aptly named, in the decade since Ronnie Baker Brooks made his last record the world has changed, this is modern take on the timeless, if you will and with a few exceptions, it achieves it’s aim.
Rating 7/10
