“Diamonds and dirt” is the debut solo album by highly acclaimed British guitarist Brian Robertson best known as a member of “Thin Lizzy”, “Motorhead” and “Wild Horses”. While “Thin Lizzy” fans would have been anticipating a new album from either John Sykes or the late Gary Moore, Robertson steps forward with this bluesy/melodic offering.
“Diamonds and dirt” is 50% new material and 50% reworking of “Thin Lizzy” and Frankie Miller songs. So one could easily jump to the conclusion that this solo album is in the vein of classic “Thin Lizzy”; yet there is much more to be said of the artistic direction of “Diamonds and Dirt”:
On one hand you have Brian Robertson an incredibly proficient subtle-blues player who always insisted on the melodic essence of a song while on the other you have a full band featuring elite members of the Swedish AOR/melodic hard rock scene: Drummer Ian Haugland (“Europe”), bassist Nalley Pahlsson (“Treat”), lead singer Leif Sundin (“MSG”) and backing female singer Liny Wood. So clearly you can expect blues influences to be mixed with AOR/melodic rock forms referencing directly the background of the Swedish band. This approach is rather similar to the musical style of “Whitesnake” excluding however performance extravagance and flamboyancy. “Diamonds and Dirt” is a mature-sounding blues/melodic rock record that demonstrates perfectly the class of the musicians involved.
The recording process took place at Chris Laney’s ‘Polar Studios’ in Sweden, with Laney (“Crashdiet”, “Crazy Lixx”) undertaking producer duties, while album photos indicate that all members were present during the recordings, making “Diamonds and Dirt” a collective studio effort rather than a file-trading album.
The reworked material is definitely re-energized due to the different approach while the new material including “Passion”, “Devil in my soul” and the title track make one look forward to an all-original album by Robertson and co. One hopes that there is more music to come from Brian and his band in the near future.
01 Diamonds And Dirt 04:22
02 Passion 04:31
03 It's Only Money 03:20
04 Mail Box 04:18
05 Running Back 04:03
06 Texas Wind 03:44
07 Devil In My Soul 04:05
08 Do It Till We Drop(Drop It) 04:05
09 Blues Boy 05:23
10 That's All 05:00
11 10 Miles To Go On A 9 Mile Road 04:58
12 Running Back (Slow Version) 05:56
13 Ain't Got No Money (Bonus Track) 04:59
Brian Robertson – Guitar,keyboards,vocals on “10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road”, Leif Sundin – Vocals, Nalle Påhlsson – Bass,backing vocals, Ian Haugland – Drums,percussion, Liny Wood – Backing vocals
Additional Musicians
Chris Antblad – Piano on “Running Back”, Rob Lamothe – Vocals on “Ain’t Got No Money”, Ola Gustafsson – Dobro on “Running Back” (Slow version), Ellinor Alm – Backing vocals on “Ain’t Got No Money”, Håkan Persson – Drums on “Ain’t Got No Money”, Rickard Jakobson – Percussion
Brian Robertson – Diamonds And Dirt 2011
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