Description
“Chateau Brian”
British punk royalty and The founder member of The Damned, Brian James produces an acoustic / roots album with ex Lords of the New Church, Simple Minds keyboardist Mark Taylor
• From Delta Blues through Reggae, the catchy and comical boogie of “ Something floatin’ “ and a hopelessly romantic New Orleans style opener this album is simple but very effective. Just two men, an acoustic guitar, piano and accordion.
• Live dates in both Europe and USA are being scheduled for 2012
• The style of the album owes more to Tom Waits or Seasick Steve and proves that Brian James is not a one trick pony.
• Reviews and interviews are expected in Vive Le Rock, Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector, Rockerilla, R2
Grand Cru
01 Tipitinas’
02 Treat a Lady
03 Moan moan moan
04 Something Floatin’
05 Staring at me
06 Such a lot of stars
07 Mango
08 Crawlin’ my way back home
09 No place like home
10 Teasin’ me baby
11 Paul’s Friend
michael (verified owner) –
The best guitarist to come out of the early days of punk. From the start Brain’s Guitar & song writing abilities showed through all the others.Always having a psychedelic blues edge about the sound. Britain’s answer to Tom Wait. A great album.
5ash (verified owner) –
Brian James is best known as founder member of The Damned and Lords of the New Church, as well as writer of most of the first two Damned albums including the classic ‘New Rose’. More recently rocking out with his own Brian James Gang, for whom he also took vocal duties. Though not a natural singer, and appearing here a little self-conscious, he demonstrates on ‘Something Floating’ that he is up to the job. Elsewhere his vocal is laid a little too far back in the mix. Not afraid to venture into unknown acoustic territory on blues influenced songs, though not necessarily being blues, he has a good team of musicians in tow. Some fine keyboards and Ian Anderson providing some stunning harp playing on two tracks ‘Moan Moan moan’ and even better on ‘Teasing me Baby’. The difficulty might be in finding an audience as it might not appeal to his traditional fanbase. For his first venture into roots music Mr James seems to be finding his feet. Not everything works but it is a brave step for a man renowned for his nose for a killer riff. ‘No place like home’ has an almost ragtime feel with Mr James sounding more comfortable with vocal duties and providing a more upbeat song on what is generally a fairly mellow collection of songs. The lead track ‘Tiptinas’ isn’t the New Orleans standard but a James original with accordion, female backing vocals, piano and James’ strumming guitar. Overall, it is an atmospheric album that promises much for the future, rather than demonstrating that James had mastered the art of roots music at his first attempt.