Leslie West – Soundcheck

Leslie West is back with a new album, Soundcheck.  It’s his sixteenth solo album and for this one as well as his own songs he’s chosen to do some cover versions – “Eleanor Rigby” (The Beatles), “People get ready” (Curtis Mayfield), “You are my sunshine”, “Stand by me” (Ben E King) and “Give me one reason” (Tracy Chapman).

Leslie West is joined by several special guests on this album including Peter Frampton, Brian May and Jack Bruce.

The album kicks off with “Left by the roadside to die”.  It’s a nice hard rocking start to the album with strong riffs and powerful vocals.

From there we move into “Give me one more reason”, a much more Bluesy song that features a lovely guitar solo.

“Goin’ down” features Jeff Beck keyboard player Max Middleton on keyboards, vocals from Bonnie Bramlett and Brian May on guitar.  The first guitar solo in the song is Brian May, while Leslie West plays the second solo.

Peter Frampton joins Leslie West on guitar for “You are my sunshine” with Peter Frampton playing conventionally while Leslie plays slide – it’s a combination that sounds great.

“A stern warning” is an acoustic instrumental number that really demonstrates Leslie’s versatility in guitar playing as he moves seamlessly through styles during the course of the song.  At times it sounds like a rock song where he’s picked up the acoustic guitar instead of the usual electric guitar, but at other times it’s more of a classical guitar style.  It ranges from slow and gentle playing to fast and furious – it really is an impressive piece of guitar playing and is one of the most enjoyable acoustic guitar pieces I’ve heard.

It’s quite a mixed album – rock, blues and even soul, but despite that it never feels disjointed.  Leslie West gives us superb guitar playing and great vocals throughout the album.  It’s a fantastic album and is one I have no hesitation in recommending.

Track listing:

1. Left by the roadside to die
2. Give me one more reason
3. Here for the party
4. You are my sunshine
5. Empty promises/Nothin’ sacred
6. A stern warning
7. People get ready
8. Goin’ down
9. Stand by me
10. Eleanor Rigby
11. Spoonful