STEPHEN COOPER AND THE NOBODY FAMOUS

Fleetwood Studio

When picking this cd up the cover is a bit of a giveaway. The picture on the front shows three instruments being played and you think these are going to be dominant on the songs and they are, trumpet, saxophone and trombone. Right from the first of twelve songs this is a soul album that grabs you by the throat with full clenched fist, My One And Only is a danceable floor filler that takes me back to the days of the Q tips, booming out of my speakers and making me want to brush off my old mod clothes and go to a soul all-nighter, smiling and dancing round my lounge.

Then straight into the second track and it's hard not to compare Hall & Oates meets Blues brothers but another hand clapping tune with a backbeat that would have you on your feet and in the aisles if you saw these guys live. Throw into the equation a screaming guitar, Hammond organ and saxophone solos and by the end of this song you will out of breath. So, when we get to the slower pace of Some Other Guy it's a welcome rest to catch your breath. The Nobody Famous are a band of eight guys who wouldn't be out of place backing James Brown or Otis in their heyday add Stephen Coopers vocals and tenor sax and I'd put my hand on my heart and say these boys could get the dead dancing, then out of nowhere comes Invisible Pistols which learns over towards the rock/blues side of life and make no mistake this is an epic episode on the album and fits in nicely followed by Breaking Up Somebody's Home where the sax screams at you at times like it's from a horror film, then boom Three Shades of Black takes you back to foot stomping blues/soul and has me aching for days gone by. Follow this up with songs full of storytelling and foot tapping to make up the twelve tunes and if you are not skipping around to Dance with Me Baby and Welcome Home, check your pulse! In the twenty first century it's hard for any band to not be compared to someone that's been before but that doesn't make them any less important and I judge most of the albums I listen to by how much I'd like to see this band live or if I'm going to play it again, all I can say is a capital Yes to both.

 - Blues Matters, September 2020