Liam Tarpey – Warm Up My Bones

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Already a well-travelled bluesman and now in his mid-20s Liam Tarpey is self-releasing his debut blues album with a backing band hand-picked from jam sessions across London, after honing his talents in France and Spain on a nomadic musical journey thus far. To begin with the disc sets out to showcase Tarpey’s guitar playing and traditional blues chops, and it does it very well. Through opening instrumental workout On My Neck, and typical lovelorn numbers Warm Up My Bones and On Her Own Tarpey and band exercise their influences (the common mixture of the old greats plus plenty of Vaughan and Hendrix) admirably, making the first half of the CD an enjoyable blues sessions. The second half settles a bit more into what could be more Tarpey’s own style, which it has to be said isn’t as fun. Compared favourably to America’s Philip Sayce, who takes a traditional blues rock blueprint and crafts more widely-accessibly, radio-friendly, but ultimately less sincere songs from it, the second half of Tarpey’s record contains what are still generally well-crafted and executed songs which just don’t quite match the livelier first half. And there are real imperfections here too. Sombre and soulful closing instrumental Peter Panda, basically a hugely extended outro to Never Again, goes on too long, then abruptly ends when it could probably have done with being half the length, fading out properly, and Oyster Card Blues in the middle of the album is just plain silly (for non-Londoners, the Oyster Card is the electronic ticketing system for all London public transport). The contrast between the first and second halves of the album might not have been so stark if the songs had been mixed up, especially with Pennies admirably trying to hold up the weaker half, and given that they’re not bad songs they’d simply fit in between highlights. Nevertheless, it’s a strong first effort, most notable for Tarpey’s mature playing, and in concert some of this stuff is likely to really come alive.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Blues, Quick.Play Reviews, Liam Tarpey