Reviews
“..an impeccably crafted trip through all the ingredients that made rock’n’roll in the first place, from gospel to sweet soul, raw blues to country…Blasting Certified Blue in the car, as I have been for a week, I didn’t want it to end. It’s that good.”
4.5 STARS Noel Mengel, Review of the Week, Courier Mail April 2014
“Certified Blue, the new Black Sorrows album is a masterpiece. This is easily Joe’s strongest album since ‘Hold On To Me’ and most passionate since ‘Dear Children’.”
Paul Cashmere Noise 11, 8 April 2014
“Certified Blue contains some of the best songs Joe and his long-term writing partner Nick Smith, have ever written… The album is a wonderful encapsulation of the talents of a great musician” Brian Wise Off The Record, #1 Top Picks Wise Choice Rhythms Magazine April 2014
The Black Sorrows
CERTIFIED BLUE
(Head)
****
If The Black Sorrows were a dog with which you shared a house, rather than a band you wish was soundtracking your life, it would be a bitser. Bits of soul, bits of rock, bits of country, bits of gospel … you get the point. Actually, the point is it’s just like one perfect party here. Take three songs in the middle – it swings from a spinning upright bass in Return of the Voodoo Sheiks, takes a tuba on a New Orleans march in Righteous Blues; and then in Lovers Waltz it smooches up close. Meanwhile, on most tracks Joe Camilleri comes across like an Antipodean Elvis Costello.
Incidentally, I recommend you buy the vinyl version of this – teal-coloured, heavy in the hand, a beautifully realised cover in appropriate size, and that lovely sound. It’s only 10 tracks compared with the CD’s 15, but you get a CD along with it.
BERNARD ZUEL Sydney Morning Herald