Interesting thing fashion. Wait long enough and you see it all come round again. The blues had a home in London during the swinging sixties and now it seems to have been reborn with a new saviour in Stephen Dale Petit.
Despite this album being pushed as a blues album, it isn't really that. Sure, there are blues flavoured moments here but this is more of a rock guitar extravaganza. There are other contenders in this field - Will Tang comes to mind - but Mr Petit keeps it smooth and mainstream. For example, "10 Year Reflections" is more Pink Floyd than Blind Lemon Jefferson (but then that might be what happens when you've played with David Gilmour…) and "Told You So" is mellow Smooth FM material. You can't fail to be impressed by Mr Petit's dexterity on what is a mostly instrumental album and he is a pretty good interpreter of other people's songs as demonstrated by a cover of "Ain't No Sunshine" but it's all very neat and tidy.
There is no doubting Stephen Dale Petit's ability to play the guitar. This album does seem rather unfocussed however. He drifts rather indulgently between genres leaving a bit of confusion as to his true musical direction. The single from the album - the sparky "A Better Answer" - is easily the best track here. Maybe that's the way he'll choose to go?