Since Joanne Shaw Taylor so effectively recaptured her roots in 2022 with Blues From the Heart Live, her studio efforts have been a mixed bag. In her earnest endeavors to expand her style, she issued a pop-oriented, highly polished studio outing titled Nobody’s Fool, thereby setting the stage for the R&B-influenced Heavy Soul, a second outing with producer Kevin Shirley (he also oversaw 2016’s Wild).
But on Black & Gold, the supervision of the former studio collaborator of Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin–who also mixed the Nashville recordings for mastering by Bob Ludwig–results in a glossy veneer that too often camouflages the inviting intimacy by which the British guitarist/songwriter most benefits. Fortunately, on “All The Things I Said,” that atmosphere holds sway, as is also the case for the acoustic/electric arrangement of “Hold of My Heart,” where Shaw Taylor’s husky voice comes through pure and clear.
To the aforementioned Australian engineer/musician’s credit, his approach does bear fruit with the layered guitars that populate “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down:” slide guitar (from former Black Crowe Audley Freed?) is all the more cutting through the interplay with the organ lines Jimmy Wallace tosses out. These noisy goings-on also appear with the distinction of the latter’s piano on “What Are You Gonna Do Now?,” which likewise contrasts the formulaic likes of “Summer Love.”
By the time this roughly forty-six minutes concludes, the thought occurs that Joanne Shaw Taylor’s studio projects might benefit greatly by the presence of her entire road band. While there’s no denying the bonafides of the core ensemble here–drummer Anton Fig (the Letterman band led by Paul Schaffer) and guitarist Doug Lancio (John Hiatt, Bob Dylan)–and the appearance of Journeyman Records’ co-founder Joe Bonamassa on a pair of tracks (“All The Things I Said” and “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?”) is a definite plus, the well-practiced synchrony of her tourmates would conceivably add a flexible economy to the proceedings, thereby encouraging more extensive improvisation.
A selection like “Grayer Shade of Blue” would greatly benefit from the latter approach. But even as it is, that number remains one of the standouts on the album, thanks to Savannah Madigan’s violin: her playful accompaniment effectively offsets the sing-song quality of the overall performance. And along with “Hold Of My Heart,” that selection more than compensates for the mechanical feel emanating from “Hell Of A Good Time.”
Black & Gold is inexplicably missing Shaw Taylor’s 2024 standalone single, a cover of Free’s “Wishing Well” (from their final album Heartbreaker). As affectionate as it is deeply felt, it would not only reside comfortably in juxtaposition with selections from her prolific output, such as “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down,” but would nicely bookend this clutch of her material along with the closing cut of Faces’ “Love Lives Here.”
Those cover songs might well also illuminate the significance of compositions such as “What Are You Gonna Do Now,” thus rendering the well-intentioned personal notes Shaw Taylor offers with each set of lyrics redundant. In juxtaposition with an array of stylish photos in a handsomely designed sixteen-page booklet, the graphic design featuring that prose is another sign that no expense was spared in formulating Black & Gold.
However, the aforementioned cull from Rod Stewart and company’s “A Nod Is As Good As A Wink” actually renders moot such elevated ambition. Joanne Shaw Taylor’s singing uncannily channels The Mod and, appearing as it does within an understated instrumental performance, the vocal delivery and phrasing of this valiant blueswoman proffers an ever-so-stirring close to an album that would benefit from more such interludes.
