Joe Silva - "Blue" Review

You might remember the interview we did with Joe Silva a few months back or you may have been lucky enough to catch him at this years Gathering and now his much anticipated album "Blue" hits the virtual shelves so to speak!

So currently the digital age gets a jump start over the physical disc which will appear later and you can download "Blue" from I-Tunes from whichever side of the Atlantic you are. SO the big question you are bound to be asking is...."is it worth my money"? My honest answer (after playing this back to back about five times today) is yes!

I had a few preconceptions before I bought "Blue" based on the interview we had done earlier in the year and was expecting Joe to wear his influences firmly on his sleeve and some of those do come through like his love of The Beatles and especially George Harrison ("Out Of The Rain" shows this most clearly and could even be from Harrison's "Cloud 9" era). The one real comparison that I kept making though was just how reminiscent of latter day Tom Petty this feels which to me is no bad thing but may be doing Joe a massive injustice as he is no imitator.

The album opens with the title track "Blue" which features some great instrumentation with the guitar keeping steady allowing the other instruments to "dance" all around each other.

The previously mentioned "Out Of The Rain" follows and is a great track that to me could have been from the "Cloud 9" sessions albeit without the Jeff Lynne production job! For those of you that haven't read our interview with Joe "Blue" was produced by drumming legend Anton Fig and recorded at the famed SUN studio in Memphis by the way!

"Break The Chain" features a wonderful piano line that weaves in and out of the vocal, flowing as if it is caught on an unseen breeze.

"Didn't Mean It Like That" is a moving break up song (the lyrical theme for a lot of the album) that would be or SHOULD be a perfect fit for radio...how much do I wish I could get a job on commercial radio as a programmer?!

"We Had It All" is piano driven with hints of themes from "Let It Be" and when the keys join in maybe even elements of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" and this is the track where I began to realise that many tracks end before they feel they have reached their full potential. Maybe others will agree with the less is more approach however I would love to hear more exploration in some of the tracks.

"Walk Away" features drums very much to the fore (remember Joe made his name as the drummer and singing in The Threats) which despite being really tight they do distract from what else is going on. Never the less you will be singing along with the chorus by the time the last refrain comes. Even on the first listen I was singing this!

"Coldest Day Of The Year" features another great lyric ("the coldest day of the year came in June this year") exploring the break up of a relationship once more with some great steel guitar work (if my ears don't deceive me).

"Should You Realise" features a great Sax line but honestly mostly past me by.

"Where You Are" is a simple guitar and drum based track that starts with a nice echo laden vocal and soon becomes another great one to sing along to.

That leads us to the album closers "I Do" which again features some great lyrics and finishes on a much more positive theme despite being the shortest track on the album. I love the opening line "You walked into my room, you undressed my doubt", one of many great moments on "Blue".

I get the feeling that "Blue" will be an album that keeps giving as the melodies and lyrics grow more familiar with every listen but it is great from word go! Joe is getting some good exposure and hopefully if enough of us go out of our way to buy this and support him then we may see some live dates on these shores.

BUY IT NOW ON I-TUNES UK http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/blue/id543666130
or USA http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blue/id543666130