BRIAN ROBERTSON / DIAMONDS AND DIRT (2011)

It’s not for the first time in the history of rock music that coincidence led to the discovery of hidden treasures: a carrier bag full of music tapes (note: tapes!) turned out to be the basis for "DIAMONDS AND DIRT", the first solo release by Scottish guitarist/composer Brian Robertson.

Brian Robertson said : "I thrust the bag into my friend Søren’s hand and said: ‘Why don’t you listen to these some time when you’re bored. They’re a number of my previously unreleased compositions." Søren Lindberg from Sweden happens to be one of former Thin Lizzy / Motörhead guitarist Brian Robertson’s closest friends and frequently works as his driver when he has equipment which needs transporting. “He had plenty of time to listen to that pile of tapes in his lorry on the way back to Scandinavia,” Robertson remembers, “and he called me as soon as he reached Stockholm: ‘Brian, there’s some brilliant stuff on those tapes. We should make an album of them!’

Lindberg already had a number of musicians in mind: he enlisted two of his country’s most renowned instrumentalists in drummer Ian Haugland (Europe) and bassist Nalley Påhlsson (Treat). Robertson said about the musicians : “They’re great, the best rhythm section I’ve played with since Phil Lynott and Brian Downey.” Leif Sundin (ex-Michael Schenker Group) was recruited as an additional vocalist, and the amazing Liny Wood joined the fold as backing vocalist. “It wasn’t easy to get all these extremely sought-after musicians in one place at the same time, which is why the work on DIAMONDS AND DIRT took longer than originally scheduled. But it was important to us to get the best possible line-up, so we preferred to wait until they could all be there.”

The result is a superb album at the interface of hard rock with definite blues elements and gritty mainstream, wonderfully melodic and full of excellent guitar arrangements. In terms of compositions, the album presents a number of outstanding Robertson numbers, such as the driving title track, the truly intense ‘Passion’, ‘Texas Wind’ with its wonderfully atmospheric beginning, and the powerful ‘Devil In My Soul’ with its awesome wah-wah guitar solo.

TRACKLISTING

01: Diamonds And Dirt (Brian Robertson), 02: Passion (Brian Robertson), 03: It's Only Money (Phil Lynott)04: Mail Box (Frankie Miller), 05: Running Back (Phil Lynott), 06: Texas Wind (Brian Robertson), 07: Devil In My Soul (Brian Robertson), 08: Do It Till We Drop (Frankie Miller/Jeff Barry/Brian Robertson), 09: Blues Boy (Brian Robertson/Phil Lynott), 10: That's All! (Brian Robertson), 11: 10 Miles To Go On A 9 Mile Road (Jim White), 12: Running Back (Phil Lynott) (slow version), 13: Ain't Got No Money (Frankie Miller) (bonus track)

Steamhammer/SPV (2011)