Cosmo St. Clair

With a voice at first reminiscent of Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen, Cosmo St. Clair punches through time with this cocky, 11-track disc of blues that’s grounded in the heart of the British bar scene of the mid-‘60s. Somewhere between the beer-soaked blues of Dr. Feelgood and the up-tempo pop of Marshall Crenshaw, Cosmo’s snarl of a voice barks across reinvented classics such as John Lee Hooker’s "Boom Boom,” Little Johnny Taylor’s "If You Love Me” and a great version of James Moore’s "Got Love If You Want It” — which recalls the thrill of hearing the Yardbirds do it for the first time. This is exactly his point. Cosmo remains loyal to his British heroes’ worship of Chicago blues by reinventing it — as they did — in his own terms, leaning on elements of rock, rockabilly and R&B as would become a boy raised in Detroit via L.A. Anybody who claims that "blues was the first punk rock” can only do so if he backs it up musically — and he does, with stellar tracks including "Down Home Girl” (with Sunny Girl Yoko contributing blistering harp) and ”Little Bit” (with Doug Nahory volunteering beefy B3 organ). And Cosmo lays claim to the turf with little more than his guitar and a heroic dose of major rock’n’roll attitude. A fun party record from an innovator who moves forward by first honouring the past.