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Savoy Brown - Ain't Done Yet
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Still going strong after 55-years and more than 40 albums and with founding member Kim Simmonds on board on guitar and vocals, it is right on the mark for this record to be titled Ain't Done Yet. Not only are Simmonds and the rest of the band --- Pat DeSalvo on bass and Garnet Grimm on drums --- not done yet, but they're rocking and grooving here with a passion that screams "we're just getting started!" DeSalvo and Grimm create a loping rhythm on opening cut "All Gone Wrong" while Simmonds sings ominously of life gone off the rails, punctuating his misery with concise bursts of blues guitar. Considering that the follow-up song is an account of an extended journey down the "Devil's Highway," it's maybe no surprise that things have gone wrong. Misfortune is of course a favorite subject of the blues and it permeates the first half of this effort, including in the Creedence Clearwater Revival-informed "River on the Rise" and the no-need-for-an-explanation "Borrowed Time." Things take a turn though about mid-album with the title cut as "Ain't Done Yet" is a joyous ode to keepin' on keepin' on. "Jaguar Car," equally upbeat, boogies to a John Lee Hooker-like groove, "Rocking in Louisiana" is blues rock on the bayou and "Soho Girl" is an appreciation for a woman who is clearly lots of fun but also a bit dangerous (she drives a '67 Mustang, sleeps with a gun.") While Simmonds' guitar work is evocative throughout, his ax speaks loudly on the closing number, a slow instrumental appropriately titled "Crying Guitar."
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