Album review: Gary Clark Jr, Blak and Blu (Warner Bros)

 

Andy Gill
Friday 22 February 2013 20:00 GMT
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Anointed even by Obama as "the future", young Texan blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr is widely viewed as heir apparent to such legends as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a belief only partly confirmed by this debut album.

There's no doubt that when he launches into a solo, Clark possesses a similar kind of barely restrained potency, in the shape of his phrasing and confident access to sonic extremity; but large parts of Blak and Blu are spent crooning falsetto soul numbers or cranking out chunky rockers in the vein of the Stones and Bob Seger . And I'm not entirely convinced that Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun" is improved by being yoked to Little Johnny Taylor's "If You Love Me Like You Say".

Download: Ain't Messin 'Round; When My Train Pulls In; Travis County

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