“Going Back Home” is not going to win awards for innovation, but it’s feisty fun and a rousing testament to a distinctive figure in British rock history. The album’s rough-hewn quality is less of an asset on a ballad like “Turned 21” or a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window.” “Some Kind of Hero” is a meaty slice of the blues on the evergreen topic of a cheatin’ woman.īut the lyrical bravado is laced with British self-deprecation: “I wish I was some kind of hero.” Songs like “Keep it Out of Sight” and “All Through the City” have a swaggering energy and raw yearning. The title track sets the tone of robust, rocking R&B.ĭaltrey growls lustily overJohnson’s choppy riffs and it’s spiced with lashings of dirty harmonica from Steve Weston and galumphing piano from ex-Style Council keyboardist Mick Talbot. Recorded in a week with producer Dave Eringa and Johnson’s touring band, its 11 tracks include 10 Johnson compositions, from the Feelgood days through his solo career. Inspired by a shared love of early British rockers like Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “Going Back Home” is deliberately rough-edged and retro, even the label, Chess Records, is a heritage brand resurrected for the release. If you haven’t seen Oil City Confidential, you must, because with the documentary’s release, Julien Temple began a revival of sorts for not only Wilko. There have been sold-out shows, a slot at this summer’s Glastonbury Festival and now an album with Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who. Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey Going Back Home (Chess Records, 2014) Not the usual way of beginning a review, however, stick with me an I’ll get you there and more. Last year Johnson was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer vowing to rock until the end, he set out on a farewell tour. Then the group imploded and Johnson spent years as a cult hero, cherished by a tight coterie of fans. The band was briefly a sensation and foreshadowed punk’s anarchic spirit. Feelgood’s bluesy rock an infectious, raucous energy. Johnson’s jagged playing and menacing stare helped give Dr. Feelgood, is enjoying a bittersweet late-career surge. Wilko Johnson, former guitarist of rabble-rousing 1970s British rockers Dr.
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