Excellent new album from the Irish Blues Rock legend; Gary Moore has found a real return to form since he's returned to the blues, and both his guitar and vocals are as distinctive as ever here.

'If The Devil Made Whisky' is a down dirty blues number, some nice slide, 'Trouble At Home' a typical Moore blues ballad, and 'Thirty Days' an uptempo in-you-face rock/blues number, all catchy and memorable. Not a bad way to open a new album!

Moore has clearly found his niche, and is doing extremely at it, it's obvious he's comfortable here.

'Hard Times' is also a great song. But by track 5 we get 'Have You Heard', another ballad. Not that he doesn't do them well, he does them very well, it's just, if not one too many, certainly one too soon.

A welcome relief is 'Eyesight To The Blind', a real heavy blues burst. An album full of this kind of work would be a real killer. Rhythm section and keyboards all blend in perfectly.

That said, I am just in love with Moore's guitar and vocals anyway. Why?

Well here's the proof! Just lose a ballad or two. Every other take on the blues is perfection. Even the closing 'Sundown', an acoustic number with some great slide. Earthy, good stuff!

****½

Review by Joe Geesin