After his blues tribute albums Kings and Chess, Bernie Marsden now recreates tracks by his favourite guitarists leading power trios, using his own three-piece completed by drummer Jimmy Copley (who passed away in 2017) and bassist David Levy (who was with Rory Gallagher on his final tours). The sessions date from 2007 but are previously unreleased.
The oldest song here, Outside Woman Blues – first recorded by ‘Blind’ Joe Reynolds in 1929 – is covered in homage to Clapton as on Cream’s Disraeli Gears in 1967. From that same year comes Peter Green rarity Driftin’ Blues, which he recorded alongside Mick Fleetwood and John McVie pre-Fleetwood Mac, and Hendrix’s Spanish Castle Magic.
Drifting, a later, post-Experience Hendrix track, signals Marsden’s nose for the connoisseur’s choice. Likewise his Gallagher cover (Taste’s Same Old Story) and Jeff Beck tribute (Don Nix’s Black Cat Moan, recorded in ’73 by Beck, Bogert & Appice).
The other trios revisited starred Robin Trower, Joe Walsh, Leslie West and Johnny Winter, before the album closes with a new take on Cozy Powell’s Na Na Na (featuring one B Marsden, and a hit in 1974). In all, another master class in rock history.
