The Blues Band - Brassed Up (1999)

After their stripped back acoustic album Wireless, the Blues band's next release was a very different affair. Including a brass section they added a new layer to the music, making a richer, more colourful sound that gave them lots of room to play around and make some great music. Including elements of swing, trad jazz, soul and, of course, blues, this is a musically diverse album which successfully synthesises all its elements into one pleasing whole. Paul Jones vocals are well suited to this rich musical style, and the rest of the band work well with Dave Kelly especially. providing some interesting guitar work. A fascinatingly inventive album that steps out of the band's main `zone' and works very well with a set of sweeping, up tempo brass arrangements. Material ranges from covers to self penned, all of which reflects the band's wry humour and warm personalities. Standout of the self penned stuff has to be `Got to be the blues', a fun track that is guaranteed to sit eternally on your playlists. With some real foot tapping tunes this is an entertaining album.