The 2kDozen 500: #255 - Roy Gaines & The Crusaders, "Gainelining"

Having been scalded by the hot shit pouring out of the NME website, I thought I'd return to a more trustworthy reservoir of musical business and the Peel Archive. The album art looked pretty straightforward - man cut out of paper playing a guitar cut out of paper pasted onto some paper.

The music was bluesy guitar music of the kind you expect to hear in films with Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi in or seedier corners of the Hughes/Landis continuum - finger-snapping, slow-dancing, dirty roadhouse blues. And some of the track intros have some great bad-tempered swearingy chatter - "Roy's New 6am 3 O'Clock Blues" is real peach. And who doesn't like finger-snapping, slow-dancing, dirty roadhouse blues? Constipated people and imams.

Sounds as though Roy enjoyed a drink or two, and tormenting a musician or two; but then what would the blues be without drink? Some of the album veers off into nasty, Eighties Teletext music; but when it gets dragged back into the public bar, it sounds good.

Rating: Mark E Smith Charm Offensive out of American Blues Delta