The Boneshakers celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first album Book of Spells with the release of a new album, One Foot In The Groove, their first since 2006’s Put Some Booty In It, Vol 2. The band is still led by guitarist Randy Jacobs, of Was (Not Was) and on this album, he’s joined by Moonshine Society’s Jenny Langer, who was working on her own project before joining forces with Jacobs. She’s a singer so highly regarded she was an inductee into the Blues Hall of Fame at the ripe young age of 28.
On this album the Boneshakers have gone full circle, all the way back to their roots, which means a no holds barred take on Funk, Blues and Rock, which infuses the feel and sounds created at legendary studios like Motown and Muscle Shoals. Over the years the band has built up a following amongst blues and funk audiences with their ability to create a ‘groove,’ which they demonstrate right from the first bars of the opening number, ‘Mr Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’, co-written by Bob Dylan and Don Was.
From here they give us their rendering of The Stones ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’. If Keith Richard ever performed this with his side band, The X-pensive Winos, this is probably how it’d go. It’s performed slightly slower and, without the rock dynamic, but done with real feeling. The gorgeously bluesy ‘I Am The Blues’ is slower, has more guitar lead and features a middle eight Steve Cropper would be proud of.
However, for this reviewer, the two best tracks are Steven van Zandt’s ‘Ain’t Got The Fever No More’, a man who knows a groove when he hears it, and ‘I Forgot To Be Your Lover’, which features Bernard Fowler singing alongside Langer. Written by William Bell and Booker T Jones, this is a delightful slow love song deeply rooted in Motown. The title track ‘One Foot In The Groove’ has both feet in there, with a luscious keyboard middle eight followed by an emotive guitar break, with ‘Ice Cream & Cigarettes’ evidently a good substitute when a relationship goes south.
If you’re a fan of sixties Motown or just someone who likes good, well-performed music with a bluesy funk feel, this is an album which could well tickle your fancy.
