Bill’s track of the week is a wonderful Just A Friend Of Mine, taken from Bill’s solo album Back To Basics, and featuring Bill on vocals.
Back To Basics does exactly what it says on the tin. It is unashamedly stripped back. The snappy lyrics are refreshingly audible and the instrumentation is clean, subtle and accomplished.
Listen to the track Just A Friend Of Mine from Back To Basics:
Back To Basics wears its influences on its sleeve – Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, JJ Cale – and there’s more than a passing nod to Bill’s own English background. It is that rare thing, a meld of styles and genres that actually work together – uplifting in a jaunty, dancey way and pensive in a bluesy, narrative way.
As might be expected from one of the world’s best known bass players Back To Basics drives along with a rhythmic muscularity, and then slows the pace for more autobiographical lyric and melody. It is an album that warrants repeated play. It is also an album that’s long overdue.