Eric Gales - The Bookends

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Eric Gales back where he should be

Eric Gales released his first album age sixteen, now with a career spanning nearly thirty years and eighteen studio albums. He is now seen as one of the great guitarists of his generation, and an artist if you like Blues and Rock you have to listen to.  Eric Gales' new album 'The Bookends' was produced by Matt Wallace, and has seen more focus on Gales vocal compared to his previous albums. 

His guitar playing standard is so high it makes you wonder how he can push himself to do something new and refreshing each time, but on this release he has done actually that. The question is 'Do people want to hear the same thing each time?', I don't think they do. Luckily for the audience Gales has not done that again, like I said before. He is a Blues Rock artist through and through as much as you think he is about to turn a solo into a Metal track he never does. 

Eric has a real Hendrix style about him, a real Gospel vibe, his energy and intensity is so extreme the crowd can do nothing but watch in awe. His band consists of Aaron Haggerty on drums, La Donna Gales on backing vocal and Duncan Wiggins on organ creating a style which shows pure raw talent. The album has plenty for the Gales fans to enjoy, his acoustic riffs and funky beats give a real feel good vibe... it's pure Soul and Funk. 

You quickly realise everything he sings about is genuine, and you don’t get more real in your writing style than this. Lyrically he's so passionate and the way he plays each chord makes the whole thing seem like a musicians master class. It's amazing how Gales knows what he does best and yet again perfected it to a tee. ​The album starts with a traditional intro piece, pure Gales style guitar solo.

This is followed by the opening track, new single ‘Something's Gotta Give’ which starts with a real Funk acoustic vibe, very catchy, it’s a great song to get your groove on and could be seen as the best track on the album. Track three ‘Whatcha Gon Do’ do instantly ups the tempo and has more of a catchy Rock feel, and is one of my personal favourites on the album, which also include ‘Somebody Lied’ and ‘How do I get You’. 

All these are very interesting songs for Gales, they both have a very Lenny Kravitz feel to them with catchy choruses added with Gales vocal really brought the album to life for me. Their is only cover on this album which is ‘With a little help from my Friends', which I'm Personally glad they included. Despite this song being a cover,  I do feel that the song was needed as a break from the norm.

The one negative I have is, I feel the albums missing that one song that makes it memorable... a song that simply just takes off. Overall it is an extremely solid Blues Rock album, and without question the standard is fantastic. ‘Southpaw Serenade’ is a great song, probably the one song on the album that takes Gales back to his roots, it's well a constructed pure Blues Rock track that helps you  remember what he's all about.

You do get a bonus track on this album ‘Pedal to the Metal’, which features B – Shade, another great track the pair from work well together. Gales is sticking to his Blues Rock roots, you can tell that the guy is a master at what he does. There's no question that this is a solid album, if you’re a Blues Rock fan you can't go wrong with buying a copy of 'The Bookends'.      

Review by Matt Gardiner (Melody Images)

Check Out! the lyric Video for 'Something gotta Give' Below...