Royal Tea - champagne from the fountain.

Unless you count Live at the Sydney Opera House and two other live recordings, a pair of Joe Bonamassa's most recent studio albums, namely Redemption (2018) and Blues of Desperation (2016), were recorded in Nashville. The location of these works sonically matches the atmosphere there perfectly, and the attentive listener can sense it. Forty-three-year-old American guitarist, songwriter and singer Joseph Leonard Bonamassa now yearns for London's DNA. From his early youth, he wanted to be part of what is now unattainable, namely wandering and hanging out in 1960s London. Seeing Hendrix, Mayall or Led Zeppelin. To be on the same stage and jam with them. It was in the UK's capital city that music history was truly changed fundamentally over fifty years ago, and it will always be seen as an extraordinary and pivotal period for all blues and rock devotees and fans. But sometimes unrealistic dreams can come true, at least in part. In mid-2020, Bonamassa finds himself in a London studio on Abbey Road to see if he can capture and creatively apply the essence of the blues concerts held in clubs and halls in Soho, Chelsea, Camden and the outlying London boroughs more than half a century ago. In the same way that some actors who want to inhabit a role by moving to the locations where the fictional story takes place lose weight or get fat to resemble the subject, Joe Bonamassa relies on genius loci, moving to London to live and create for a few months and, above all, trying to make the most of the potential of the Abbey Road studio. He's not alone. Among his essential helpers is the British Bernie Marsden (1951), a veteran guitarist who shares with Joe, among other things, a passion for guitars. Bernie is perhaps most widely regarded as the instrumentalist and composer of Whitesnake. Other colleagues and partners include producer Kevin Shirley and the most recorded bassist of all time, Michael Rhodes. The album Royal Tea was originally due in 2019, but Anton Fig, the band's longtime drummer, suffered a complicated leg fracture, causing a delay. The Covid pandemic and the reverberations of Joe's mental health issues subsequently contributed to the delay. The Royal Tea album itself is one of the best Joe Bonamassa has made to date, so the time shift was beneficial. The introduction alone is impressive. The expansive When One Door Open (running time 7.35 min.) with its symphonic introduction and Beck-like follow-up is a more than worthy start to a sonically and structurally balanced album. In it, Joe lets his predatory style shine through, positioning him as one of today's finest blues guitarists. Track number two, Royal Tea, is a clear hit thanks to its punchy riff, swinging tempo and well-arranged keyboards. The urgent ballad Why Does It Take So Long to Say Goodbye with a predictable build has a strong chorus and a pleasant version. Next up is Lookout Man with the title track of Purple's Smoke on the Water. Bernie helps out with vocals on the very British-tinged High Class Girl. The following A Conversation With Alice has an interesting history. It's a throwback to two visits to an American psychoanalyst, after which Joe became convinced that he really didn't want to be anybody's average. He literally says, "I want to be loved or hated." That's why he also refers to his conversation with Alice in the text as the best thing he's ever done. The rest of the record doesn't lack blues, but it lacks genre anchoring. The divisive Lonely Boy, while having a solid brass arrangement, is a trip to another decade of another century. It fails to maintain a British sound, for example in Beyond The Silence with a Spanish girl in the basic orchestration, but fails completely in Savannah where banjo and Southern vocals surprise, as if cut from oceanic vinyl. Bottom line. Royal Tea is an excellent record, meticulously played and produced. The Abbey Road therapy has worked and the champagne really does flow from the fountain.