Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The Blues for such a long time seemed to be destined for the scrapheap of musical history, at the very least it could have been seen as the last preserve of a fading generation, kept alive by its reputation and some of the more enlightened souls to whom had the genre’s best interests at heart. The slow burn out, the limit of fascination and fandom reached its zenith and was now on the verge of a spectacular collapse, one in which the Muse would have strained to give it C.P.R. but which would have seen its spirit depart with dignity, if not a new modern ear enjoying it.
The funny thing about the Muse is that she doesn’t let music die that easily, it takes one or two musicians to breathe life into the genre and away the audience goes once more, hooked and loaded with a gratifying smile, however with the Blues it took something very special to reignite the interest and whilst the Golden age of Blues has long since disappeared, this current term of Blues energy, which includes the tremendous Big Boy Bloater & the Limits and their brand new album Pills, should be given the name of the Sapphire age, a sparkling jewel that perhaps could be viewed as more valuable than the Golden Age could have hoped to aspire to.
It is in this new age that Big Boy Bloater & the Limits have found their way into, a big noise indeed, but one with absolute heart, a distinctive growl in the moonlight and one which strides proudly, one that beats faster, with more positive sound than could have been imagined in the grainy days of the genre’s first strum and low-down memory.
In tracks such Friday Nights Alright For Drinking, The Saturday Night Desperation Shuffle, Unnaturally Charming, Mouse Organ, The Digital Number of the Beast and the heart-breaking truth sewn in plain sight within the Blues muscle of A Life Full Of Debt, Big Boy Bloater & the Limits truly understand what it means to be part of something which arguably might not have been realised, and which is immense because of it.
Big doesn’t come close, Pills is vast, adult and more life-size than some might have ever thought possible; a fantastic album from start to finish.
Ian D. Hall