Royal Tea (Deluxe Tin Case)

Joe's a musician who tends to polarise music fans. He tends to release too many albums (especially live ones) and has been accused of diluting his talent and rinsing his fans - as well as playing too many expensive exclusive events. That said, the man can play astonishingly well and I've seen him live a few times, so I can attest to his skill. Like Gary Moore, he is somebody who can turn his hand to not only playing in his own style, but he can imitate other guitarists with ease. Royal Tea is one of his best albums of the last decade (although 2018's Redemption was a hard act to follow), taking its influences from the British rock sound of the late sixties and early seventies and, for added authenticity, was recorded at Abbey Road studios. It's a nice change in style and the arrangements give his sound an additional depth. This is the kind of re-invigorated, creative Bonamassa I can get behind and, what's more, it sounds great.

An opening track starts slow with an orchestra,nothing to grab you until the 4th minute when it turns to almost heavy metal. For me the first track should grab you by the balls I.e.track 4. Title track again blisters in the 2nd half. 3 is a cracker in the songs of the lost and lovelorn variety,Joe really puts his heart into it. And so it goes on,most tracks in 5 minute plus range so he can rock out at the end.Tracks 8 and 10 are my other favourites. My only gripe is that as Bernie Marsden co wrote many of the songs I'd hoped that we might have had some dual/acoustic songs that he might have played on. Instead he only adds backing vocals on the last track,for me a wasted opportunity.

Big, loud, brave and bombastic! Just listened to the album in its entirety and was not tempted to skip a single song. I must say it is a really cohesive and solid album from Joe.Each song sounds fresh and unique with lots of depth and clarity. I think it will take a few listens to appreciate the intricacies of each song as there are plenty of nice layers and instruments coming in and out of play.I am not a huge fan of songs that are heavy on the brass instruments, but no fear of that here. There is a good mix of nice piano playing and the female backing vocals certainly add to the songs.Joe's singing and playing sound great and I think he has done a terrific job on this album.

I love Joe Bonamassa and have most of his CDs. This has become my favourite album of his. All the songs are great but Why does it take so long to say goodbye and Beyond the silence are my favourites. How's voice just gets better with every album and his guitar playing is awesome. I have had the pleasure of seeing How play live a few times and hope when we get back to some normality he and his brilliant band go on tour so we can hear this played live. Great album as we would expect from Mr Bonamassa.

I always thought Joe could do no wrong and I have bought every one of his recordings to date. The last few years he seems to release something every few months and they are progressively getting worse. How many more live albums do we need as well? Sure, he likes to experiment and the blurb on this CD talks about Willie Dixon, Robert Plant et al but it does nothing for the blues. It is like a lot of his recent releases with noise and heavy rock and this time has some boring prog music thrown in as well. His collaboration with Bernie Marsden was ill advised if this is the result.Sure the Bonamassa Ayatollahs will try to shout me down but I was literally bored by this release most of the time. Blues and Blues Rock are fine by me as are Delta, Chicago and other blues, but this does not cut the mustard. How many of his fans could hum any of the sings after several plays - none I would bet!!Take a break, Joe, and try writing better material for the next blues outing. Try listening to the great Freddy King and some of the other stalwarts for a year and look for inspiration. I like Jazz, Funk, Classical and other music but stick to what you know. Prog died for good reasons and this almost overblown and pretentious release shows why.

Sheer perfection.Heard the album first during the live stream Joe performed back in September, so I knew it was something special. When I heard the CD at an appropriate volume, (loud), it became a different animal altogether.From start to finish, this CD draws you in plays with you and gently parts company at the end....Joe has outdone himself once again. This is simply, well you read the review title.....

This album is fantastic to listen to, every track is superb in its own right. All the artists who inspired joe Bonamassa to write these tunes are brilliant in their own right. Plus Jools Holland is my favorite boogie-woogie style of music, and wouldn't it surprise you that Lonely Boy is my favorite track. In my book, a fantastic album by a fantastic guitarist

The best guitarist in the world continues to evolve & improve vocally and as a song writer. This is classic blues rock at its best. Superb sound quality & production as always. There is no one else out there trying harder to keep this type music alive, long may it continue