Like an old family car, there’s something faintly reassuring about how Savoy Brown have kept going all these years, regardless of musical fads and trends.
Released to celebrate the group’s 50th anniversary, The Devil To Pay is exactly what you would expect from Kim Simmonds and his gang of merry men. It’s an unadulterated orgy of blues rock that does exactly what what it’s supposed to.
The cliché-ometer strays into the danger zone with songs like Grew Up In The Blues and Whiskey Headed Baby, but Simmonds redeems himself elsewhere, particularly on Oh Rosa and Evil Eye, which showcases his prowess on the guitar.
It might not take the blues into new and unchartered waters, or contain any real surprises, but Simmonds is still going strong. They might not be the new kids on the block any more, but there’s life in the old dogs yet.
