Joe' s Black Rock serves up an eclectic mix

Got my first real listen to the new album from Joe Bonamassa - Black Rock - and it has me a little preplexed. You probably know the story by now - it was recorded at the new Black Rock Studios, Santorini, Greece hence the album title and surprisingly, for a blues album, has a good few greek influences thrown in - particularly on the cover of Leonard Cohens Bird on a Wire.

Hear Joe's description (BTW Joe, why do you always tell us your date of birth in these clips) here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/mpd/permalink/m38LBGORO84QAZ

It possibly overdoes the covers a little with Jeff Becks Spanish Boots and Otis Rush's Three Times A Fool, but all in all its a really well put together album..... but that's the problem. Its well put together, beautifully and cleverly arranged with some tradmake JB solos and riffs but to my ears its just a little bit off - almost trying too hard to be different. I cant put my finger on it, but I just preferred the Ballard of John Henry which seemed a more complete and coherent body of work.

Anyway, that's the joy of music - we all get to listen and decide ourselves so go check it out.

Blackburn 1 - 1 Chelsea

After the nightmare of a Champions League exit at the hands of the special one it was up to Ewood Park for a tough away test of our powers of recovery and title aspirations. Kalou came in for the ineffective Ballack and for 45mins it looked like the disappointment had been shaken off as the Drog put us ahead on 5 mins.

Sadly, instead of building on the great start we simply went backwards, failed to turn up for the second half and got what we deserved when Blackbun equalized. A spirited final 10mins was no substitute for the missing 75 and the Blues we left no advantage and no room for error left in a faltering title challenge.

The tweets when like this

• The Blues have to put the disappointment of Tuesday behind them with a tough trip to Blackburn. Wins for the Arse and Mancs make a win vital
• The Blues have started brightly - no Ballack thank g-d - and we're ahead on 5mins as Anelka picks out the Drog who slots home. 1-0
• Its got a bit scrappy since the goal with Blackburn threatening on the break. Kalou, Alex & Kalou all go close
• On 38mins Malouda cracks one at Brown as the Blues step up a gear but then Bran is injured & replaced by Zhirkov as the half peters out 1-0
• Blackburn start the 2nd half brightly with Pedersens long throws causing problems. The Blues look stretched as Roberts replaces Kalinic
• The Blues are making hard work of this and 1-0 away is never safe and on 69mins inevitably Douf equalizes as the title challenge slips away
• 2mins later & Drogba lashes a free kick against the wall as Deco comes on for Kalou. Into the last 10mins, the Blues lack guile or invention
• Carlo & Uncle Fester shake their heads as Blackburn continue to frustrate. The pressure grows as Drogba lashes wide from a Deco corner
• 4mins of injury time & the Blues are battling but it makes no difference. Its another 2 vital points dropped. Advantage Man U & the Arse
  
  If we're honest, most of us saw this coming - tough away game after a Euro defeat. Champions elect win these - we're just not quite there

Chelsea 2 - 4 Man City

After the disappointment of the San Siro its back to the cut an thrust of the premiership on a day when more column inches and TV news minutes were given to the possibility of a handshake than the reality of a devastating earthquake.

That said there was a football match to play as well and unfortunately the Blues didn't show up. With Malouda in at left back, the iffy Hilario between the sticks (when will Ross Turnbull actually get a real game) and Joe Cole up front with Anelka and Drogba it still looked a pretty strong line up. After going ahead in the 40th minute things just fell apart - conceeding two goals either side of the break, some odd substitutions (Joe Cole wasn't great but Ballack was worse) anjd even shoddier defending consigned us to to a painful home defeat and worse still left the door ajar for Man U and Arsenal.

The 'in game' tweets are shown below

Pre Match - An earthquake in Chile or a handshake at the Bridge. The one that's getting the most news coverage @ present shows the sad state of UK press
Small matter of a football match today. Man City at home with 1st choice no left or right back, no keeper & limited midfield options. Its getting tough
Malouda starts at left back & JT sports a dodgy mohawke. Joe Cole joins Drog and Nic up top & the Jedi holds. OMG a handshake - just joking
13:08 - A sluggish opening 20mins is punctuated by a thunderous drive from Malouda on 10mins that flys just over. Man City are set out to frustrate.
13:26 - Lamps finds the Drog with a miss hit on 35mins but he shoots over. 5mins later Joe Cole slots Lamps thru & he slots home past Given for 1-0
13:30 - It lasts precisely 3mins as Mikel misses a simple header and Tevez wriggles past JT and Ricky to then scuff a shot past Hilario. Its 1-1
13:50 - No changes at 1/2 time tho Carlo must have been fuming. It's worse after 5mins as a Blues attack breaks down & Bellamy breaks & slots home.
14:05 - An hour gone - SWP on for City, Sturridge & Belletti replaces the hapless Mikel & Joe Cole. It makes no difference so Kalou's on for Ricky
14:20 - With 15mins left its an inevitable penalty against us from Mike Dean with a red for Belletti to boot. The Troll makes it 3-1 and game over
14:25 - Ballack clatters the Troll from behind & he's off so the Blues are down to 9men with 10mins to go. Home record gone and the league... ???
14:32 - Bellamy makes it 4-1 on a 2 vs 5 break from the half way line. It means nothing against 9men tho goal difference might be an issue in May
14: 26 - 5mins of injury time and Lamps converts a penalty to make it 4-2. Helps the goal difference but not much else. Man U & the Arse are smiling.

So Carlo has a lot of work to do with a missfiring side and only limited resources available - no Cech, Bozzy, Ess, Cole, Zhirkov or Deco and now suspensions for belletti and Ballack (the latter being no great loss in my booK). A tough andx phyisical FA Cup quarter final awaits before a derby day visit of West Ham and the the small mater of Jose and Inter.

Its gonna be a tough month or so - Come on u Blues !!

The end of the Road ....

I was really saddened to read in the FT yesterday that EMI (probably our last great British music institution - albeit one that's burning an ever deepening hole in Guy Hands pockets over at Terra Firma) have put the iconic Abbey Road Studios up for sale.

As a budding, but not so young muso, in the early 80's I was fortunate enough to spend some time there - though never actually got to record anything much to my dismay - and it was always a place of awe and reverence. Not characteristics shared by many of the guys at EMI who, whilst they rightly assert that modern technology allows you to create music in your bedroom, clearly don't get the magic that happens post the initial creation stage when great musicians get together in a great setting with great procurers and engineers.

EMI would not comment officially but the FT believes it had been considering bids that could raise tens of millions of pounds. As was rightly reported, the Abbey Road brand is probably worth even more than the studio and the property which was bought for £100,000 back in 1929. Whilst it will always be the home of the Beatles greatest hits to most people, it was Pink Floyd's Dark Sides of the Moon that really made me think about what great musicians could do in a great studio.

To be fair EMI has tried to leverage the Abbey Road brand through the Abbey Road Live concert series but this was not well promoted and one assumes not particularly successfully given the current statements.

Expect the usual ringing of hands from the likes of McCartney, Marttin, Gilmour etc al and just hope that someone steps in soon

New Joe Bonamassa Album

Joe Bonamassa's new album Black Rock is slated for release shortly - Amazon are showing it up for pre-order with a March 22nd release date - but there was an early review on guitarniose.com. Hard to believe but this is Joes 10th album and will be his last before the upcomming Black Country release (his colaboration with Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham).

The review concludes with the following...

" Black Rock is a great album and an example of great songwriting, arrangements and of course guitar playing and tone. Joe experiments with guitar tone more than most which brings a nice quality to each track, you never tire of hearing that same sound although and yet it is always unmistakably Joe. Is this album better than The Ballad Of John Henry? Well it is difficult to compare because this album has a totally different feel to it. I love The Ballad Of John Henry, it was my favourite album of 2009 chock full of incredible covers and originals. Black Rock doesn’t quite have the same initial impact for me but grows on you with each listen and after 10 or so listens start to finish I can say that this is probably going to be one of the most played albums in my iTunes this year."

Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

What looked like a difficult tie against a so called resurgent Arsenal, whose boss was convinced their thumping by Man U was just an aberration - see more comments below, turned into another thumping albeit without much possession.

The Blues stated with Drogba and Anelka in front of a Lamps, Ballack and Jedi diamond with Ricky joining JT at the back. In a week that saw way too much written about JT's off field situation, it was, as ever, the returning Drog that did the damage in a 25min spell of clinical finishing and sweeping counter attacks. That Arsenal had almost 65% of subsequent possession was of little consequence as the Blues could have had three with Drogba clattered the crossbar with a second half free kick. Havinng promised not tweet as this was supposed to be a nail biter, I soon scummed so here are the in match items

• 16:10 The Blues are ahead in 7mins. Inevitably its JT who connects with a corner from Malouda and his goal bound header is tapped home by the Drog
• 16:30 Arsenal have responded well with plenty of possession as you'd expect but in a sweeping Blues counter attack Lamps find the Drog for 2-0
• 16:50 Again Arsenal have responded with lots of possession (a lot of it being given away by Ballack tho) but the half ends with the Blues ahead.
• 17: 35 The rain is teaming down & Arsenal are having a real go as the Blues sit back too deep. With 20mins to go Arsenal thro on Eboue & Rosicy
• 17:55 Joe Cole is on for the last 5mins & Kalou joins him for added time. A new front 2 but its the Blues back 4 who won this today. It ends 2-0

As often happens, the post match Daily Bung in the Telegraph captured the mood of on Mr Wenger perfectly ..

"....yet despite seeing his side once again defend with all the intelligence of a Tony Cascarino column ghostwritten by George W. Bush, Wenger insisted he was "completely happy" with the performance at Stamford Bridge.

Really Arsene? Were you completely happy with Gael Clichy, who moved off the far post and shuffled nervously along the goal line for Drogba's first goal like a toddler who has just wet themselves and is trying to avoid showing their parents? Were you completely happy with Manuel Almunia, who did a marvellous impression of a waxwork figure as he stared ahead with the cold, dead eyes of a bedraggled sniper as Drogba fired past him for the second goal?

Wenger also found the time to have a dig at Carlo Ancelotti's table-topping side, for apparently not winning with the requisite flair. Shame on them, that successful, winning team: they must learn to pass, rather than shoot, ad infinitum. The bounders.

"You have to congratulate Chelsea but we didn't get a demonstration of football," the Frenchman screeched haughtily. "We had 70 per cent possession of the ball. We were not running after the ball. They [Chelsea] did not dominate.

"We were always in an attacking position. We were always risking everything going forward and they were good on counter-attacks. We were a bit uncertain at the start, but when we got into it we were completely dominant (one problem Arsene: at that point you were two goals down and playing against a confident, powerful team that do not like to hand goals to their opponents on a plate, all without the help of a recognised striker on the pitch. Still at least you dominated possession)."

When asked about his opposite number's comments, Ancelotti could barely disguise his confusion. After all, for all these years he has been labouring under the misapprehension that football is about winning matches. Silly sausage.

"Maybe Arsenal had more possession than us, but that is not football," he said. "Football is about results. I think we deserved to win. When you speak about a match, you can't speak only about possession of the ball. No. You have to control the attack and defence.

"When we went ahead, it was very important to play on the counter-attack. Our second goal was an unbelievable goal. Fantastic movement, fantastic pass and a fantastic shot from Didier. This is football."

That's you told, Arsene.

Hull 1 - 1 Chelsea

The Blues travelled to the KC stadium buoyed by a good though hard fought result on Saturday however we came up against a resolute and hard working Hull side that ultimately frustrated us on the night and put a dent in the title challenge.

The in game tweets went

• 20:16 Away to Hull for our game in hand but the Blues, even with the returning Drog, are behind inside 30mins from another set piece disaster as Mouyokolo heads home
• 20:30 The Blues have upped the tempo and Anelka's brought down on the edge of the box. The Drog takes the free kick and scores. Its 1-1 & game on.
• 21:00 Its a lively start to the 2nd half with chances at both ends but with an hour gone its still 1-1
• 21: 25 Into the last 20mins & this could go either way. Joe Cole is on for the ineffective Ballack but as we enter the final 10mins its still 1-1
• 21:33 Carlo brings on Ash & Sturridge in a last throw of the dice but Hull hold on for a vital point and put a dent in the Blues title challenge

So the lead is down to 2 points when it could have been 4 and now Sundays home game to Arsenal takes on even greater significance