Chris Jagger – All the best

“All the best” is as the name implies, a “best of” type album, spanning Chris Jagger’s career.  As well as fifteen tracks from the length of his career, there is a new song, “Avalon girls”.
Chris Jagger released a couple of albums in the 70s but it wasnt till 1994 that he released another.  In the intervening years he acted in a number of films and in the 80s was a partner in guitar firm Staccato.  Since 1994 he’s released 8 albums and his musical style has demonstrated a wide range including country and Cajun, and when you listen to this album, “All the best” you really get to hear just how diverse those styles are.

There are special guests on some of the songs included here.  “Junkman” features Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour on guitar, and on “Concertina Jack” and “The DJ Blues”, Chris Jagger is joined by his brother who does the vocals.  In case you hadn’t guessed, his brother is Rolling Stones singer, Mick Jagger (and in fact Chris Jagger did contribute songs to two of the Rolling Stones albums).

New song, “Avalong girls” was written when Michael Eavis asked Chris Jagger to play the Avalon stage at Glastonbury festival.  It’s a great lively song, and the line “when you play your music they like to dance” really sums the song up – it’s the sort of song that is bound to get fans up and moving.  Check it out here…

With it’s drum and harmonica intro, “On the road” reminds me of Canned Heat at first till the main part of the song kicks in.  It’s a fast paced song and damn it’s good – very good.

“Wintertime blues” is a nice change as it’s a piano based song.

Mick Jagger’s vocals are so distinctive and work really well in “Concertina Jack” where he sings on the chorus, but it’s “The DJ blues” where he duets with Chris Jagger that I think his vocals are best used.

As you’d expect from a song where David Gilmour plays guitar, “Junkman” is another great song.

Elsewhere you’ve got accordion, double bass, you’ve got country, you’ve got all sorts of roots inspired sounds – in fact this album is impossible to describe simply as it really does contain so many different sounds.  One thing though is consistent throughout – the sheer quality of the songs.  Every song is different to the last and all are absolutely fantastic.

I’ve got to be honest – until I listened to this album I’d never heard anything by Chris Jagger, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The album is one of the most diverse albums I’ve heard for some time although being a best of then it’s probably more diverse than one of his normal studio albums.  Having listened to the album more times than I care to admit, I’m absolutely blown away by how good it is.  In fact it’s already prompted me to buy a couple of his albums to hear more of his work.

A fantastic album that’s highly recommended.

“All the best” will be released on 1st September 2017

Track listing:

1. Law against it
2. Avalon girls
3. On the road
4. It’s amazing what people throw away
5. Lights of the city
6. Concertina Jack
7. Got me (where you want me)
8. Wintertime blues
9. Channel fever
10. The DJ Blues
11. Ain’t gonna be your fool
12. Junkman
13. A single spark