Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The road calls, history’s future narrative is weaved between petrol pump and the climax of the end of night shadows in which the unsuspecting artist is greeted by the proof that their work moves souls and makes walls tremble in the anticipation of being laid waste.
Recording anything live can be a double-edged sword, it can register the immensity of what you have put before those who will carry you in their hearts forever and it can lead to a darker path, one covered in the fine webs to which journals fear to tread, the constant fear that the required emotion will not be captured in the way that was envisaged. Perhaps then it is better to not know, to see the evening as just a point of delivery, of fun and not held to account. To measure the road live, one must be there, but then as Supersonic Blues Machine can testify the surprise plot twist when someone hands you a recording of the experience and it blows your mind, that is what makes Road Chronicles: Live worth keeping track of.
Following on from two enormously well-received albums, West of Flushing, South Of Frisco and 2017’s Californisoul, Road Chronicles: Live delves with great purpose into the pit of expectation but as songs such as Remedy, Can’t Take It No More, Watchgonnado, a tremendous version of ZZ Top’s La Grange, Dust My Broom, Got My Mojo Working and Running Whiskey take off with as much power thrusting from the engine of players as a beat poet picking up speed and hearing their own heart echo across time in a crowded bar, what is evident is that Supersonic Blues Machine have got this covered, that they will re-count these days as they move forward and become a giant of a name to reckon with.
With the legendary Billy Gibbons joining the group for the tour and the exceptional Kris Barras taking over the lead vocals, Road Chronicles: Live is more than a study, a test in which to gauge the future with, it is an upbeat classic, a rare and valuable reminder of why we all go for the live show, it is not always about what is played, it is the stories we can tell afterwards, a poignant weaving of the grateful moment with the sincerity of the future possibility. Undeniably cool!
Supersonic Blues Machine release Road Chronicles: Live via Provogue/Mascot Label Group on 12th July.
Ian D. Hall