Sandi Thom
FLESH AND BLOODSANDI Thom sounds like Maggie Bell on Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me, the chunky blues opener on her fourth album, but she follows this with some of the most compelling and personal songs of her career: I Owe You Zero, in which she seeks to jettison herself from her past; The Sun Comes Crashing Down, inspired by her visit to impoverished Malawi; and In The Pines, a dark traditional song associated with acts as diverse as Nirvana and Leadbelly. Stand-out tracks are The Big Ones Get Away, a stirring duet recorded with its author, the great Buffy Saint-Marie; I Love You Like A Lunatic, motivated by her passion for her partner, blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa; and the soulful Lay Your Burden Down. The album, recorded at Nashville’s 16 Tons Studio, saw the Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson at the controls. By all accounts he pushed Thom to challenge herself vocally, and it shows; lyrically, too, as Flesh And Blood underlines the extent of her progression from the days when she was known for hit single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker.
Russell Leadbetter
