Out Royal Blood

Eagerly anticipated third album Typhoons. When Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher sat down to talk about making a new album, they knew what they wanted to achieve. It involved a conscious return to their roots, back when they had made music that was influenced by Daft Punk, Justice, and Philippe Zdar of Cassius. It also called for a similar back-to-basics approach to what had made their self-titled debut album so thrilling, visceral and original.

Chemistry. You either got it, or you don’t. When the five members of Royal Southern Brotherhood convened in February 2016 at Dockside Studios, Louisiana, there was magic in the air. Just seven days later, the acclaimed U.S. soul-blues collective emerged triumphant with The Royal Gospel: the fourth album in their rocket-heeled rise and further proof of a lineup born to play together. Enough has been said about Royal Southern Brotherhood’s illustrious backstory. Enough has been written about the critical acclaim and sell-out crowds that greeted the original lineup’s 2012 breakout. Right now, fans would rather hear about the questing new material and finger-on-pulse worldview of The Royal Gospel, released 2016 on Ruf Records.

This career-spanning collection reimagines 12 classic Johnny Cash performances via new symphonic arrangements recorded at the fabled Abbey Road Studio 2 with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Performances range from archetypal Cash classics like “Man In Black” and “Ring Of Fire” to essential musical collaborations including “Girl From The North Country” (Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash), “The Loving Gift” (with June Carter Cash) and “Highwayman” (with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash).

Royal Southern Brotherhood is an American blues and blues rock supergroup, consisting of singer and percussionist Cyril Neville, vocalist and guitarist Devon Allman, vocalist and guitarist Mike Zito, drummer Yonrico Scott, and bassist Charlie Wooton. New blood. New beginnings. For Royal Southern Brotherhood, Don’t Look Back isn’t just an album title, but the attitude that drove the award-winning US band’s third release. Tracked at the iconic Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with an all-guns-blazing new guitar lineup and production team, this is the sound of a band rolling with the punches and turning the page.

One of the happiest results of the influx of Russian talent into Britain has been conductor Vasily Petrenko's tenure with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, which he has led since 2009 and brought into the league of the major London orchestras. His recordings for the fine independent Onyx label have all been notable, but this one, featuring Elgar's Enigma Variations, Op. 36, is especially strong. Surely Petrenko did not have the Enigma Variations in his blood, and you might offhand expect him to make them sound like Tchaikovsky. Not a bit of it; this is a lean, light, and beautifully sculpted Enigma Variations, where sentiment emerges where it is warranted (sample the flowing and famous "Nimrod" variation) but is otherwise held in reserve, and each of the character sketches that make up the work have a vivid, lively quality.