Slim Chance: The Show Goes On: Songs Of Ronnie Lane

Fitting tribute to late English treasure from ex-bandmates.

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It’s fair to say that Ronnie Lane’s post-Faces output is probably the least celebrated music of his career. Yet it marked a particularly fascinating time in his life, forsaking the rock star life for a rural existence on a Shropshire farm and putting together a travelling carnival of souls to bring his unique wash of gypsy folk and roots – what he called hobobilly – to showgrounds and small venues throughout the land.

This warm tribute to Lane was cooked up by two veterans of his ‘70s band Slim Chance – Charlie Hart and Steve Simpson – who tracked down other ex-colleagues to revive a bunch of songs from the era.

The vocals might be a bit thin (Lane was a terrific singer, after all), but the musicianship is top-rate, especially on an accordion-led version of Anymore For Anymore.

More importantly, the whole endeavour captures the indomitable spirit and sheer joie de vivre of Lane himself.

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.