CD Review - Billy Walton Band – EP / Billy Walton Band – Neon City
I saw the Billy Walton Band live for the first time in March this year at the Greyhound in Beeston near Nottingham. My friend Rob and I arrived early, early enough in fact to hear the band doing their sound check and it was clear that a good night was about to be had by all. However, since “all” at this point was just me and Rob – Billy came over after the sound check to say hello and asked us if we were staying for the show. We were after all about 2 hours early, but I do like to get a good seat. Anyway, the show was fantastic and I have already written a review of that. This review is about the CDs that I bought on the night.
For the few days after the gig I played the two CDs repeatedly, I literally listened to nothing else. Then I got super lazy and ripped the CDs into my iTunes library and burnt a MP3 CD with both CDs on to listen to in the car and, of course, this now meant that the CDs were now in my iPod. So, when I tell you that now, about 6 weeks later, the MP3 CD is still in the car stereo and that at least half the time when I am listening to music in the house it is the Billy Walton Band – well, you’re not going to be surprised are you when this review is very positive.
The album then, “Neon City” recorded over the summer of 2009 shows how much the band has developed and improved over the last couple of years. It is altogether a more polished piece of work – I would describe it as an excellent album. I love (and I mean that) every track on this album. The songs have variety, most sung by Billy, some by the bassist of the band, William Paris. The drum and bass rhythm of the band is rock solid and provides the perfect canvas for Billy’s outstanding guitar work – which ranges from the subtle and sublime to the fastest and edgiest rock guitar I have heard in a long time. It is more restrained and controlled on the album compared to his live work – but it loses nothing in quality or impact.
Stand out songs on the album for me are the title track “Neon City”, “Hypnotised”, “Soul Song” to pick on three – but as I said they’re all class songs. On “Hypnotised” the vocal reins are picked up by William Paris and the song has a reggae feel to it – it shows the versatility of the band to great effect. “Soul Song”, if I had to pick one track as my favourite from both CDs this would be it. It starts out as a very gentle refrain, a real, erm, soul song but as the song progresses it builds to a crescendo with some blistering guitar work from Billy.
Let’s start with the EP. Released in September 2007 with 6 very good tracks on it – on the band’s website they highlight in the EP description the tracks “Bring It All Together” and “Cannonball” and these are great, but my personal favourite of the 6 is “Save Me”. It was this song that eventually clicked in my brain and made me realise why I liked the music so much. Billy Walton hails from New Jersey and so does a certain Jon Bon Jovi and sometimes Billy sounds like JBJ when he sings. And to further support my theory, I was driving my son home at the weekend and the Neon City album was playing in the car, I don’t recall which track but my son asked me if the music playing was Bon Jovi. Now, OK, I know that some bands and artists don’t like these kind of comparisons because they want to be seen as original and unique – but frankly I don’t think it is an insult to be compared to one of the most successful rock bands of the last 25 years is it?
If you’re not convinced yet – then go to the bands website www.billywaltonband.com and you can listen to clips from some of their songs on there.
Reviewed by Simon J. Gledhill for the Nottingham Blues Society
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