JOHNNY COX Thin Blue Line
Rich Greenpool
Hoots mon! It’s Scotch expat Johnny Cox letting rip from his adopted Canadian homeland on an all original set of songs for his debut album. Considering he claims to be influenced by the usual white boy blues influences of Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, it’s unfortunate that he chooses to launch his recording career with the incredibly insipid pop of Your Love. It’s awful, and if the skip button hadn’t been invented I might have got no further. Which would have been a shame, as the following High Price To Pay is an absolute peach, and really should have been the opening number. Then it’s on into the funkified Runaway Train and the Santana like New Way, which shows that his influences actually range far and wide. From start to finish his guitar work is off the highest order, and there are some excellent arrangements, especially on the numbers enhanced with female backing vocals. Which is just as well, as his singing isn’t the best you’ll hear. I think we’ll call it heartfelt, and leave it at that. The best track is actually the one where he comes closest to traditional blues rock. Yes, the closing Didn’t Commit The Crime is an excellent mid tempo blues with some fantastic guitar work.
STUART A HAMILTON
