Blackberry Smoke - Holding All The Roses (Album Review)
Thursday, 12 February 2015
Written by Simon Ramsay
When a band's career is on a sharp upward trajectory, they often hook up with a big name producer to capitalise on the momentum and strike gold. With that in mind, Blackberry Smoke have recruited Brendan O'Brien - of Springsteen, Pearl Jam and AC/DC fame - to ensure that album number four takes them to the promised land. But have they sacrificed something of themselves in the process?
Although these Georgian gents never steer too far from a tasty recipe of southern rock ‘n' roll baked with gospel, bluegrass and soul, they've a wonderful knack of imbuing each album with its own unique flavour. Where 'Little Piece of Dixie' brought huge melodies to authentic southern sensibilities, 'The Whippoorwill' delivered rootsy Americana with a seething restlessness.
'Holding All The Roses' sounds like a cross between those two, served with contagious hooks, a fresh vibe and slick production. But, while it’s a cliché, the record needs repeated spins to reveal its charms. At first, it seems too accessible and structured, with only three tracks lasting over four minutes.
Persist, and you'll appreciate the depth of craftsmanship involved. The band have distilled their textured repertoire into each economical cut. For proof, behold the exceptional title track.
Beginning with an acoustic motif that sounds like Lindsey Buckingham at his most fiery, it swiftly switches to an electrifying groove before unleashing a storming onslaught of piano flourishes, giddy hand claps, lashings of fiddle and searing six-string heroics. It's possibly the greatest tune the band have recorded, and it's over in under three and a half minutes.
Throughout, they are on a mission to raise spirits and that breezy feelgood factor is epitomised by the Bob Seger-channelling bar room boogie of Rock And Roll Again and Lay It All On Me.
Even the darker moments are strangely uplifting. Living In The Song's melodic country bounce finds a lost loner running from heartbreak, Too High delivers spine-tingling harmonies amid tales of drug addiction, and Payback's A Bitch prowls towards gleeful vengeance.
Their ballads have always stirred the emotions and Woman In The Moon is a beguiling reinvention of that archetype, brooding with Scott Walker melancholy as strings and organs swirl, while the band whip up a slow-burning storm of haunting crescendos.
Positives aside, O'Brien's work could use a little roughing up and the retro reverb he sometimes adds to Charlie Starr's vocals is unnecessary. Meanwhile, the whole shebang is crying out for some extended instrumental passages and the edgy attitude of a Leave A Scar or Sleeping Dogs.
Regardless, this is the right album for Blackberry Smoke to release at this point, and widespread acclaim won't be far away. Rightly lauded as the finest southern rock act since LynyrdSkynyrd, the band have yet to write a universal classic like Sweet Home Alabama or Free Bird, but the way they're progressing it's only a matter of time.
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