Rating: * * * *
Hammond Gamble is one of our rock veterans who really hasn't had his due.
He's had a haphazard recording career since the days of fronting 70s pub rock legends Street Talk. Most will know his voice these days as the one who blows the
dust out of television speakers with his occasional gritty ad jingles.
But with last year's spirited Recollection acoustic album revisiting his past career and now this impressive electric set, the Gamble is on a roll.
Firstly these dozen songs remind of his neatly balanced and deep talents - there's that familiar fine-sandpaper voice aligned to Gamble's pithy, often funny, occasionally bitter lyrics and his classic songcraft - Gamble does write them like they used to, whether it's lilting Paul McCartney tunes like Memory No.1 and the title track; or the sort of dramatic balladry like the opener I Had A Dream which is the sort of song which would improve a Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton or a Rod Stewart setlist.
And there is that blues guitar playing of his. Here, he frequently shows he's still the master of just-so phrasing over fretboard flash, even if the occasional song is stuck doing some rudimentary blues-rock things.
But there's little filler here and Rikki Morris' production - recording in Devonport's historic Victoria Theatre - and the supporting players give something dynamic but economical for Gamble's voice and playing to work against.
That's especially so of stand-out tracks like the brooding Waiting for Rain, the piano-powered post-divorce blues of You Cheated Me and the guitar-scorched travel-weary Back Where I Belong. A vital crop of songs from a man whose latest vintage sounds among his best work. Much recommended.
Hammond Gamble and band play SkyCity Theatre with Midge Marsden tomorrow night.
Russell Baillie
