David Gogo - Bare Bones (the acoustic blues) (Cordova Bay/Ragged Pup)

Really what is the fucking point of the acoustic album? It's nearly as pointless as the live album. You get a load of songs you probably already own only striped down (down to their bare bones even) and probably a few covers thrown in for good measure, and all for what? So that some guy with a guitar can say "look at how good I am without having to plug my lovely red Fender Strat into an amp and blow you away with ten million watts of distortion. See how I can bore you with a trawl through my back catalogue, a couple of new songs and a few songs by someone else that I learned this morning because I realised that I didn't have enough acoustic-based material to fill out an entire album".

I'm actually surprised at David Gogo for this. I mean it's not all that bad but after a few minutes the excitement of seeing how he's going to pull this challenge off does wear away. It would probably have been more productive of him to take the year off and write a new album, or maybe go on a tour, or just even go home and get pissed for a few months. Instead he blesses us with this. Thanks.

If you're a big fan by all means go and get this, if you're newcomer to the Canadian bluesmaster's ways then go pick up "Change of Pace", or even "Halfway to Memphis" and let this one rest.

Ken McGrath