Thanks to Paul Turley’s lithe guitar playing and fine singing by Paul Muir, Albany Down deliver a Thunder-esque sound, at the heavier end of the blues-rock spectrum, sometimes with an AOR nous that echoes (in a good way) Bon Jovi.
Again produced by Greg Haver (who has worked with the Manic Street Preachers), the band hit the mark from the get-go with Feeding The Flame, Do You Want Me Now and Mr Hangman, only misfiring on the self-consciously funky Supersonic Girl.
The middle order flags a little, but Albany Down work hard to expand their horizons with a smattering of keyboards (by Manics sideman Nick Nasmyth), strings (great on the bluesier Like A Bullet) and brass (perfect for Look What You’ve Done To Me and its ‘woah-oah-oh-oh’ chorus). Better still, they end big as rhythm section Billy Dedman (bass) and Donna Peters (drums) go Zep-tastic on I Need You, then ease Sing Me To Sleep into a Beatles-style fade-out.
Albany Down issue Feeding The Flame video
