Having formed back in 1971, Foghat may be long-in-the-tooth but there’s life in the old dogs yet, having hit the top slot on Billboard’s Blue Album charts with this their latest album.

Still striking the beat after all those years, Roger Earl remains the last man standing of their original lineup, but slide/lead guitarist Bryan Bassett, having served time in Molly Hatchet and Wild Cherry, has been with the band since before this millennium, bass player Rodney O’Quinn (of the Pat Travers Band) joined back in 2015 and relative newcomer Scott Holt on lead vocals/guitar joined in 2022, having previously played with the legendary Buddy Guy.

Sonic Mojo has unexpected pizazz with some nice separation of sound, contemporary but not condensed, and that’s Bassett’s doing; as Foghat management recently described him as “our resident genius engineer, producer.” Oh, and he also mastered the record! As vocalist, Holt’s likely to grab your attention first, he’s an interesting texture to his voice, pitched somewhere between Tom Petty and Bob Segar. Not that O’Quinn or Earl are sleeping on the job, the latter’s often the one leading the charge as they begin playing.

A cursory viewing of this album’s initial tracks might have you believing Foghat’s not only fallen out of love with a woman of late, but downright have no time for ‘em. But that’s not quite true, as there’s a variety of moods and musical styles on offer, and probably still enough boogie blues to keep lifelong fans content.

That they honour their past is without doubt. In a succinct and well-written single page of liner notes, Earl delineates the band’s history with deft humour and good grace while bringing you up to speed with the band today. e also recalls how he joined Savoy Brown back in the 60s, (leaving out the management hassles that caused him and the other original band to leave and form Foghat) and remained good friends with that band’s Kim Simmonds up until him passing away in 2022, but that the guitarist offered music for three songs listeners can hear on this CD, beginning with the opening ‘She’s A Little Bit Of Everything’.

Earl’s lays down the beat, the guitars taking a laid back Stones mood before shrugging their shoulders to rock and boogie out more earnestly. True, there’s something about that recalls ZZ Top’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ with a little of contemporary act Robert Jon & The Wreck’s swagger in there, but that old school Foghat spikiness is just as ever-present. Moving up a gear with ‘I Don’t Appreciate You’, Holt’s smooth vocals purring over this steady pumping rock ‘n roller that wouldn’t be out of place in a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers set. If they’re going for outside influences, there’s some Santana-styled guitar with a late night close-up cuddling dance groove to ‘Mean Woman Blues’ that musically is anything but despite it grinding down hard as those guitar lines move with sexual determination.

The clickety-click of drumsticks – or some other such percussive element – keeps boogie going straight down the line on for ‘Drivin’ On’, wherein Holt tells you all need to know about the loved one he’s out to meet, while Bassett’s slide ride you there a little over the speed limit as they cruise round some crazy bends. The raving goodtime vibing blues of ‘Let Me Love You Baby’ are nicely abetted by some horns punctuating the session as guitars play up breezy phrases throughout – This one probably goes down a storm live.

Most folk know Zeppelin’s revised shag-fest version of ‘How Many More Years’, rather than the stalking and growling original by Howlin’ Wolf. Foghat transplant the tune into a slow blues that’s crafted with more than air of eerie mystery with a subtly shuffling drum pattern as rhythm and lead guitars reach out, bend and glare, constantly on the prowl. Again, Earl’s drum lead us in, for a loose crooning steady beating blues- come-soft rocker in ‘Song For The Life’, that’s kind of like The Eagles reworking something from Clapton’s 461 Ocean Boulevard, though the line ”Don’t drink as much as I ought to” would suit neither and enigmatically makes you want to play the number again to get a better hold on the song’s deeper intent.

Written by Earl’s brother, Colin, the original pianist in Mungo Jerry, ‘Wish I’d Been There’ is an old school country tune with a little blues rocking on the slide. There’s a wider commercial appeal to this one, not least it’s mentioning of Hank Williams. Suitably, the slow crawling blues of ‘Time Slips Away’ comes next, with both the lead vocals and the way the harmonies come in on the chorus giving it an overall psych-Americana arc, with much storytelling amid deeper emotions heard in the lyrics. Yes, Tom Petty fans should check this one out.

By contrast, ‘Black Days & Blue Nights’ has them cranking up the guitars again to gets down and a little dirty as they rock out, with Holt growling away vocally while Bassett’s takes things at his own stride during his slide solo, nonchalantly warning you not to get in its way. Keeping up the tempo, but getting in the mood for some heavy horizontal action, is straight-on down-the-line rocker ‘She’s Dynamite’. ‘Promised Land’ is a couple of foot-tapping sidesteps removed from the Chuck Berry original, Holt adding a rockabilly hiccup in his throat over this Cajun rock for nimble-footed jive dancers – If you think this is lightweight then you’ve got no soul, and no sense of fun.

Moving with dignity into their senior years, Foghat will most likely rock until they drop.

• Review by Paul H Birch.

• Available on Foghat Records & distributed by Select-O-Hits (part of the Sun Records family) and available here: https://foghat.com

Track List:

1. She’s A Little Bit Of Everything
2. I Don’t Appreciate You
3. Mean Woman Blues
4. Drivin’ On
5. Let Me Love You Baby
6. How Many More Years
7. Song For The Life
8. Wish I’d Been There
9. Time Slips Away
10. Black Days & Blue Nights
11. She’s Dynamite
12. Promised Land