I first stumbled across Blues Pills in December 2014 when I saw them support Rival Sons in Glasgow. By the time they reached the end of their short set, I was hooked.

So having already fallen in love with their self-titled debut album, I waited with growing excitement for the release of their second record.

Lady In Gold was released on 5 August via Nuclear Blast. Produced by Don Altersberg, Lady In Gold runs to ten tracks (nine new songs and one cover).

The title track opens the record with an instantly catchy honky tonk piano intro. Singing about the Lady In Gold being the “keeper of the soul”, there’s plenty of soul in Elin Larsson’s vocal performance. A performance that I’m sure soul queen Aretha Franklin would give a nod of approval to.

There’s a decided shift of style to this record when compared directly to Blues Pills’ debut. The psychedelia and soaring guitar sound with an edge of hippy chic have been moulded into a far more soulful, almost gospel, sound. It’s as though their musical journey has moved from the late 1960’s/early 1970’s  to the mid- late 1970’s.

I Felt A Change is a classic 1970’s power ballad. Beautiful organ and keyboards. Stunning simple and polished vocal performance, showing a warmth and maturity. But…where are the guitars?  Where’s the bass? Where’s Dorrian? Where’s Zack?

Gone So Long follows and, to me, it sounds like a Bond song. I’m looking for Daniel Craig here and I’m hearing too much Adele and not enough Elin. Great drumming from Andre Kvarnstrom and some soaring guitars (at last) from Dorrian Sorriaux go some way to rescuing this one as a Blues Pills song.

The Blues Pills sound from their debut returns in You Gotta Try. Love this sultry moody track. There’s a hint of gospel here but it’s accompanied by strong influences of Led Zeppelin. The hypnotic Blues Pills vibe is most definitely there in this one. Love it!

Won’t Go Back follows and finally Dorrian Sorriaux gets to use his beloved 1970’s effects. This track is more up tempo but again is filled with soul. Are we moving towards mid-late 1970’s disco a bit here too? I’m sure I caught a glimpse of a mirror ball…..

Lady In Gold concludes with a cover of Tony Joe White’s Elements And Things. “Can you hear the thunder?”  Yes- and I wish we’d heard more of it throughout this record. A powerful, thunderous song to conclude with that gives a glimmer of hope for a return to the Blues Pills of the previous record.

Second albums are always a bit of a “make or break” moment for a band. If you’ve enjoyed critical acclaim with the debut, you have to build on that and enhance things without losing the identity that attracted the accolades in the first instance. Have Blues Pills done that here?  I don’t think so….sorry.

Don’t get me wrong, Lady In Gold is a good album. There’s some stunning moments on it, the title track being the highlight for me personally, but I can sense it may divide their fan base. If you loved the psychedelic, fuzz laden sweeping guitars of their debut then you may feel a bit betrayed here. There are no star tracks Little Sun  or Devil Man. The raw energy is missing.

Lady in Gold is a mature, polished and more commercial record than their self-titled debut but it’s more soul then RnFnR.

6/10

images sourced via Google – credits to the owners