Short Reviews [Jimmy Ryan - 2021 - "Astral Cafe"]

This is the second album I have heard from Ryan, but in many ways, this is a far more complete and balanced work than ‘The Healing Guitar’. Dan Van Schindel not only assisted on production but also provided drums while Jimmy did everything else (although he is joined by his brother Johnny on the album’s eight-minute closer). There are a couple of songs with vocals, and they are well done, but to be honest I would have preferred to have had a fully instrumental release as he is covering a load of musical bases and it is just a load of fun, which shows just what can be done when someone really knows what they are doing. This never comes across as a solo project and has a very band feel about it, and there are plenty of nuance and touches which would make one think this was released in the Seventies as opposed to 2021. There are times when Jimmy is lightness personified, and others where his guitar is absolutely filthy, and all this can be heard on one of the vocal tracks, “Crossroads”, where Jimmy sounds as if he is born to the blues. The tags they have given to the album are “Instrumental Rock, Blues Rock, Prog Rock Instrumentals, Fusion” but they are probably missing a few – it is an album which can be enjoyed the very first time it is played and is guaranteed to get people in a party mood. The title and cover art do not really do this album justice, and anyone who is interested in powering rock instrumentals will do well to look past those and give this a try.