Black & Gold is Joanne Shaw’s Taylor’s 10th studio album, and as with other recent releases is produced by Kevin Shirley. The pair has proven a good fit, allowing Taylor to mix it up with blues, rock, country, soul, and even retro 80s pop, thus expanding beyond the blues palette where there’s the danger one can hit a creative ceiling, if not repeat one’s self.
A good bunch of the songs have been released as singles since late last year. Opening track ‘Hold Of My Heart’ being one, and guest featuring award-winning violinist Sav Madigan. Both ladies based in Nashville, this twangy, Americana-infused song proves a deceptively laid back but catchy enough tune about confessing your feelings run somewhat deeper than friendship to an old acquaintance.
Then comes the album’s almighty ear worm and early on. ‘All The Things I Said’ is a groovy, pop ‘n soul singalong. Thematically slotted in after ‘Hold Of My Heart’; on the one hand if the words in it had gone unspoken this could be the end result, or you can just accept it as a general breakup number – Either way it’s so infectious that you’ve a heart made of stone if you don’t feel you want to get up and dance the hurt in this song away.
‘All The Things I Said’ is the kind of song I’ve really enjoyed on her last few albums. It features some glorious repeated lyrics and guitar motif over some ace band playing and a brief but fragile guitar solo that breaks out when she becomes lost for words. My favourite track, and so early on, but fear not it’s far from downhill hereafter.
Title track ‘Black & Gold’ is a cover of Sam Sparro’s 2008 Grammy nominated electro-beat hit, that I seem to recall being considered provocative at the time. Taylor slips it into something more casual but no less intriguing, repurposing it as sultry walking blues, gospel vocal asides shimmying to the sides as her own deeper honey voice takes the lead.
By contrast, gentle aboriginal tribal rhythms alongside delicate echoed arpeggio guitars carry us through ‘Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?’, a song about getting over the loss of her mother, I believe. Then, with ‘I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down’, Taylor reminds us why God put a guitar in her hands and she kicks up a storm – Hard windswept churning blues that rock all the way from the drum seat to the back of the house. There’s a mean edge here, a sense of urgency, and some wild but classy guitar work by not only Taylor but rhythm guitarist Audley Freed and Doug Lancio on slide – The song itself a mighty declaration that enough is enough relationship wise, and for anyone foolish enough not to listen to what she has to say, again the tour de force of all that guitar wrangling delivers the winning punch.
‘Summer Love’ says it all there in the title, another big-smile-on-your-face singalong, dance and clap-along-to tune. Sweet but far from bad for you. Laidback but far from lazy, you’ll be humming this one as you walk the streets with a smile. A trip down Memory Lane, ‘Grayer Shade Of Blue’ meanders with purpose as guitars glimmer alongside poignant piano refrains over a steady heartbeat rhythm, Taylor reflective in a song that tips its wide-brimmed hat to the 80s again as popular music rode back towards being emotionally important for listeners and not yet too big for its boots by becoming over-produced. “This song is about a close friendship I had for over a decade that ended suddenly. I’ve never known why,” said Taylor – That’s often how I feel about changes in musical taste, and am thankful the likes of her continue to sometimes remind us what we’ve lost.
It’s good to hear Taylor whacking out a slam-banging riff on the blues belting ‘Hell Of A Good Time’ – A tale of caution, but with the kind of rock ‘n roll swagger that tempts you regardless. ‘Look What I’ve Become’ might well be the tale of that previous caution not taken as advice – Blues by nature and feel, gospel in its lyrical confession; here’s a sense of the epic here, certainly befitting accompaniment to some dark TV drama or thriller. Again, there’s a cinematic feel to ‘What Are You Gonna Do Now?’ where you can picture some young runaway breaking free from a troubled life, despite it being a lighter tune with smooth chopping guitars and bright and loud piano rolls.
The album ends with ‘Love Lives Here’, another cover tune. “I’m a huge Rod Stewart fan. This is one of my favourite Faces songs,” Taylor confirmed. Dismissing the more obvious choice of applying her more obvious raspy vocals full on, Taylor applies softer, slightly more hushed tones befitting her female protagonist role within the song. However, make no mistake when she takes her guitar solo it’s a wicked dance taking no prisoners.
Sure, most of the songs on Black & Gold are about the pros and cons of coupling up romantically, but that’s practically life as a whole too. What’s valid is that there are varying emotions portrayed across the range of these songs, often with a different aspect of such for the listener to distil through their own experiences. Perhaps a little less soul than I’ve genuinely enjoyed from Joanne Shaw Taylor on her previous Nobody’s Fool and Heavy Soul albums, but enough delights and it’s always good to hear when she blasts out on guitar.
- Review by Paul H Birch
- Black & Gold is available through Journeyman Records (from here).
- Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube Channel
Track list:
- Hold Of My Heart
- All The Things I Said
- Black & Gold
- Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?
- I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down
- Summer Love
- Grayer Shade Of Blue
- Hell Of A Good Time
- Look What I’ve Become
- What Are You Gonna Do Now?
- Love Lives Here
