Review: Joanne Shaw Taylor ‘Heavy Soul’

Review: Joanne Shaw Taylor ‘Heavy Soul’

By Hal Horowitz

Heavy Soul isn’t just the name of UK blues rocking guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor’s ninth studio album (released June 7), or the song it’s derived from. Those words also succinctly describe her musical direction.

Some fans thought that Taylor’s previous release, 2022s Nobody’s Fool, went too far afield into pop, perhaps in an attempt to cast her net past the contemporary blues audience she had attracted from a 15 year career of rugged concerts and powerful releases. After all, her husky vocals and songwriting skills were well established and there’s nothing wrong with an artist expanding their boundaries. But an excess of ballads– nondescript, some might say sappy– pop offerings and not enough fire-breathing guitar solos, weakened Taylor’s appeal to her core roots supporters.

She admits as much in this disc’s liner notes, writing “I wanted to see if I could mix both contemporary blues and soul/pop and blend it into roots music.”

Mission accomplished.

The opening “Sweet Lil’ Lies” kicks off with a tough guitar hook that resonates like archetypal Taylor, her tough throaty vocals take over the mid-tempo rocker as she complains to a soon to be ex-lover that “I just don’t feel desired” and it’s capped by a terse, torching guitar solo that enters at 3:08. The song reaffirms that the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s talents are in full flower and is a perfect way to show she’s serious about this heavy soul thing.

Certainly returning to longtime Joe Bonamassa producer Kevin Shirley to handle the boards is another good sign. He keeps the groove clean but far from slick. And when Taylor shifts into full soul mode on the swinging “Black Magic,” complete with grizzled slide lines, a short but sharp solo (that frustratingly fades out), and potent backing female call and response vocals, there is no doubt that this is territory that best suits her.

Even when the atmosphere slows down on her cover of “Someone Like You,” the singer grabs hold of Van Morrison’s ballad, sinking her vocal teeth into the love song like she wrote it. On “Good Goodbye” she co-pens another stab at telling a partner that things aren’t working out, bringing her vocals up front and tossing in a rhythmic solo that doesn’t need to explode to gel with the song’s bittersweet vibe.

By the time we get to the subtly driving title track halfway through the set list, Taylor delivers the soul/blues/pop original with pulsating authority topped by a jagged guitar solo that’ll rip the cloth off your speakers.

A stab at Joan Armatrading’s “All the Way from America” doesn’t add much to the tune, but shows Taylor’s willingness to dig deeper for interesting material that’s not blues oriented. However a roaring nearly psychedelic take on Joe Simon’s “Drowning in a Sea of Love” is another highlight where all of her strengths converge to elevate an already magnificent classic to new heights. And the roaring rocker “Devil in Me,” an angry assault on someone incapable of telling the truth which brings out the worst in the singer (“You couldn’t see the truth/If it was right in front of you”) is as passionate and fuming as its lyrics.

With the exciting Heavy Soul, Joanne Shaw Taylor returns to the passionate sound that brought her fame. It’s great to have her back.

“Heavy Soul”