  
British rockers Jettblack are releasing a new album. It's not a full-blown album as such - it's actually a compilation of material that was either only available digitally or wasn't available at all. Originally billed as a mini-album it seems to have grown and to call it a mini-album now would be wrong - after all with 13 tracks its longer than many albums.
The title track appears twice - firstly the version from the Raining Rock album, and secondly as a version with a guest appearance from Damon Johnson of Black Star Riders. There are couple more tracks from the Raining Rock sessions - 'Feel the love' which features Ian Paice on drums was on the single of 'Raining rock', and 'Weapon' was recorded as part of the album sessions. 'Fade away' is an older song, coming from the 'Get your hands dirty' album sessions. There are three cover versions - 'Barracuda' (Heart), 'Let me put my love into you' (ACDC), and 'Name in vain' (Motorhead). There are five acoustic tracks, four of which were only available digitally before, and one (Red Horizon) that wasn't previously available.
ok lets take the cover versions first. The one that was the surprising choice was 'Name in vain' It's a Motorhead song but is certainly not one of the big hits so wasn't expected. It's nice to see bands choose slightly more obscure songs to cover as with a song that everyone knows it can be a double edged sword - on the one hand people know the song so will sing along at gigs, but on the other hand people know the original very well and will compare the new version to the original in far more detail so it can get judged a lot more harshly. Jettblack have done a great job with 'Name in vain' - it sounds great and doesn't immediately sound like Motorhead which is good. The Motorhead sound is there if you listen for it, but Jettblack have made it sound like it could be one of their own songs, although it is a bit heavier than their usual sound.
In contrast, 'Barracuda' and 'Let me put my love into you' are too well known to be mistaken for Jettblack songs. Of the three, 'Let me put my love into you' is my least favourite. It's a decent enough cover but just doesnt really sound special. Barracuda is by far my favourite of the three though. It's a song I love the original of, so I wasn't expecting to be impressed by this version but I really like what Jettblack have done here. The guitar work is great and that signature guitar riff that makes the song instantly recognisable sounds superb. The vocals too work well - I wasn't sure how they'd fare replacing female vocals with males, but they work very well.
The acoustic songs are all good - they're nice to hear but I do personally prefer the electric versions. 'Red horizon' will be of most interest to fans as this song wasnt previously available at all whereas the others were available digitally.
It's a great release - they could have included half the number of tracks and released it as an EP and most fans would have been very happy, but putting all these tracks together makes it even better. Sometimes collections of rare or unreleased versions of songs are just of interest to the hardcore fans, but this is good enough to appeal to pretty much all Jettblack fans.
Track listing:
1. Black Gold (featuring Damon Johnson - Black Star Riders)
2. Feel the love (Featuring Ian Paice)
3. Weapon
4. Fade Away
5. Let me put my love into you
6. Red horizon (acoustic)
7. Barracuda
8. Name in vain
9. War between us (acoustic)
10. Not even love (acoustic)
11. Sunshine (acoustic)
12. Prison of love (acoustic)
13. Black gold (album version) |
