Ubquitious bluesman, Joe Bonamassa has just released another album, this time Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Recorded last August the show dives into his catalogue over the last 25 years. what makes this different from any other JB album is the feature of a live 40-piece orchestra.
The arrangements by David Cambell, Trevor Rabin and Jeff Bova are lush and cinematic and certainly fill the open space at the Hollywood Bowl. The opening 'Overture (When One Door Opens)' with its sombre strings and weighty orchestral pomp could almost make you feel as though you'd stumbled into The Proms. As the crunch of 'Curtain Call' comes in with twirling string driving the rhythm, certainly, the attention to detail for this concert is once again maintained to Bonamass's high standards.
As a guitarist he's known for his almost technical precision, verging on the clinical, so this symphonic addition suits his already slick sound. 'Ball Peen Hammer' and 'Self-Inflicted Wounds' are highlights of the concert. Hawk-eared fans will notice the subtle arrangements that gently layer and underscore the tracks without dominating the songs.
He's certainly not the first artist to enlist an orchestra and won't be the last. Rather than use the gravitas of the sound as a reworking of the songs, the orchestral gloss adds to an already polished presentation rather than adding anything sonically new but it's a sound that Bonamassa wears very well.
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