Simon McBride
Album: Nine Lives
Label: Nugene
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.simonmcbride.net

Belfast Blues would be an alliterative introduction to Simon McBride; singer, songwriter and guitarist. On this, his third CD, he is ably accompanied to good effect, by Paul Hamilton on drums and Carl Harvey on bass. Not only that, it is a live CD, which can either be hit or miss, depending on a variety of factors. This one, thankfully, works. McBride gets the blues and soul mix spot on, but at times cranks up a bit too much rock for my ears. That said, the four acoustic bonus tracks give an excellent inside into how he sounds stripped back a little and I love it; two of the songs are also on the CD, which allows for great comparison between the two versions.

I am pretty confident that existing fans will love having a live collection, and for those unfamiliar, this mixture of live and acoustic is a great introduction to Simon McBride and his music. I also, suspect that getting to watch him play some of this material live would be a pretty amazing experience, as it is clear from the CD alone what an amazing guitarist he is.

Helen Mitchell