Six years after its initial appearance, Ronnie Wood's fifth solo album, Slide on This, is reissued by KOCH International in a deluxe package. There is one bonus track, a remixed version of the leadoff song, "Somebody Else Might," but the real draw to this version of the album is the 56-page booklet packaged with it, which contains examples of Wood's painting. He takes as his subjects his fellow members of the Rolling Stones, along with other musical peers such as Pete Townshend and Keith Moon of the Who, the Edge from U2 (who contributes some guitar work to the album), and Bob Dylan, as well as music legends like Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison, and even a few animal portraits.
The finest compilation of Roy Wood's work to date, drawing on his closing years with The Move, his sole album with Electric Light Orchestra, the biggest hits of Wizzard, and Wood's official solo albums and singles.
The second part of a trilogy of live albums paying tribute to Ronnie Wood's early musical inspirations, Mr. Luck: A Tribute to Jimmy Reed – Live at Royal Albert Hall captures a November 1, 2013 concert at Royal Albert Hall. Mick Taylor sits in with the Ronnie Wood Band, while Bobby Womack, Paul Weller, and Mick Hucknall all take a turn in the spotlight – enough guests to grab the attention of the curious but not enough to overwhelm the proceedings. What happened on the stage was a spirited, loving tribute to the great bluesman Jimmy Reed, whose boogies and shuffles are easy to play and tricky to master. Wood and Taylor have long since absorbed the intricacies of the interplay of Reed and Eddie Taylor, staying faithful to the spirit and opening up the blues to a wealth of solos, including some appropriately greasy harp. There are no reinventions here, but there didn't need to be: saluting Jimmy Reed with just the right amount of heart and humor makes Mr. Luck a rocking good time.
Christopher Wood began his musical career as a chorister at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He studied music at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, where Boris Ord was one of his teachers, and then at the RCM, under Herbert Howells, Gordon Jacobs and Arthur Benjamin. In the summer vacations he studied conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Clemens Krauss, Bruno Walter and Herbert von Karajan. His principal piano teacher was Adelina de Lara, a pupil of Clara Schumann and Brahms. He studied the harpsichord with Rudolphe Dolmetsch and Dorothy Swainson.
Wood's mission was straightforward enough here: promote his album of the time, Slide on This, before raiding the Faces' treasure trove and solo standards like "I Can Feel the Fire" and "Am I Grooving You," the latter done with sassily funky aplomb. Don't expect any surprises; you know Wood's guitar will charge out front, with some type of Hammond organ or boogie-woogie piano banging away behind him. Anyone who got this album originally knew what they wanted and what they'd be getting. Four songs capably hoist the banner for Slide on This: "Testify," "Show Me," "Josephine," and the shimmering ballad "Breathe on Me," where vocalist Bernard Fowler truly excels.