Big Boy Bloater & The Limits
Album: The World Explained
Label: Mute
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.bigboybloater.com

Charismatic and unflinchingly flamboyant as a live performer, the exuberance translates well to the Bloater's second album. Expertly pitched somewhere between high-rollin' bar boogie and muso love-in, the ten tracks are delivered hard and fast with no quarter given to flashy playing or showy production frills.

There are songs about love, loathing and most points in between. This is the sound of tears being shed and hearts broken, as well as moments of sheer joy and unbridled passion - and all channelled through Bloater's ripping guitar and voice.

As a sideman he's played for artists as disparate as Paul McCartney, Imelda May, Wanda Jackson, Paloma Faith and Frankie Miller, but he's got more than enough of what it takes to shine as a bandleader playing his own songs bringing pathos and feeling to back seat tracks like Lifetime Money Back Guarantee, palpable anger to Stop Dragging Me Back and injecting dancefloor fillers like Double Whammy (financed by Mark Lamarr) and Black Sambuca with heart and soul as well as the necessary backbeat.

The World Explained will doubtless sell well at gigs, but it's a hell of lot more than a memento of a big night out.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk