CD - Eric Bibb: Get Onboard

Although Eric's a favourite artist of the Shades site, I'd still concede that the more recent Bibb albums have been a little patchy to say the least. Always good in parts, and never less than enjoyable, some of the material on "Diamond Days" and "A Ship Called Love" simply wasn't as consistent as that found on his earlier releases.

"Get Onboard", it has to be said, is more of the same, although the best songs on this latest CD are as strong as anything he's put out and in Shades view this is a better album than either of the last two studio releases. The first half of the CD is particularly fine, stand outs include 'Spirit I Am', 'The Promised Land', 'Get On Board' and 'If Our Hearts Aren't In It', where he's joined by Bonnie Raitt.

As usual, he covers a wide musical territory, with country, folk and gospel all in the mix along with the usual dollop of acoustic blues. By and large it works well, but the quieter, more reflective numbers occasionally just sound a little too constrained, polite almost. Eric's always had a sentimental side and there has been the occasional lapse on even the best of his albums - 'Mandela Is Free' on "Home To Me" springs to mind - great sentiment but only reasonable execution - and the trend partially continues on this latest offering.

Having said that, there are probably at least four or five songs here that stand comparison with anything in his catalogue to date, but just one or two too many that don't stretch beyond pleasant. Of course, that's still a better track record than you'll find on most of the output you'll probably get to hear this year. Which means that if you are coming to Bibb for the first time, this will probably be a reasonable introduction. The added bonus is that you'll then hopefully visit his back catalogue and discover more gems and even better and more complete albums.