Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Freedom is not a gift, it is a right, and one neglected by many as they swear alliance and allegiance to a system that requires subservience, that insists on compliance across the board…no room for the individual to make the best of their lives, no recourse to the law of liberty or of understanding that there may be not just one, but Two Shades Of Blue in which to feel that all paths are open to explore, to perform, to feel gratification within.
The more we allow ourselves to be regulated by another’s demand, the narrower the field of expression. Thankfully there are artist fighting constantly the stagnation of the soul and of the mind, and to Robben Ford, an artist who refuses to adhere to other’s conformity, his new album emphasises the sense, the chase, the dream of opening up fully and allowing the music and the lyrical flow to charm the rocks of all.
Reclaiming freedom is underlined from the pulsing start of the album, a frank admission perhaps of the self breaking through and having the indomitable dynamo swirling rage and courage of Make My Own Weather leading the line and having the polished expertise to make the jump to a cover of the classic John Lennon song Jealous Guy; in such a way that freedom shows without waste and want, the pillars that crumble under less than auspicious delivery.
Across tracks such as Perfect Illusion, Black Night, and the aforementioned Make My Own Weather, the legendary skills and purposeful demeanour that saw the prolific musician not only release a plethora of his own compositions but work with luminaries such as Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, and Rick Springfield, are given presence and full on Blues insight, they are in control but connected with the earth and the fires of independence and the pulse of light in between.
The path of enlightenment is not in the rigid form of imposed rules that strain our subconscious into submission, it is in accepting that there is more than one shade of everything and in that we choose the road we wish to illuminate.
Robben Ford releases Two Shades Of Blue on March 27th via Provogue Records.
Ian D. Hall