CHRIS REA AND THE RETURN OF THE FABULOUS HOFNER BLUENOTES

The 2002 double album STONY ROAD was an unwieldy but overall convincing transition from rock to blues for irish slide guitar veteran CHRIS REA. Commercially Rea was at his peak during the late 80`s, songs such as LETS DANCE, I CAN HEAR YOUR HEARTBEAT, ON THE BEACH and THE ROAD TO HELL were big hits in many european countries and the UK. The more the 90`s wore on though, the more evident it became that Rea was willing to sacrifice fickle pop chart success for the oppurtunity to indulge in recording material with a much more pronounced blues influence. STONY ROAD was a magnificent interpretation of the blues from someone who wasn't black or based in the United States, but Rea took it to a whole new level with his concept blues/instrumental 3 CD opus THE RETURN OF THE FABULOUS HOFNER BLUENOTES in 2008, which is the second installment of the project he started with the album HOFNER BLUE NOTES (2003). With a title as long as that you could mistake it for being a psychedelic or progressive rock album. The album is built around the theme of an imaginary band called THE DELMONTS evolving into a band called THE HOFNER BLUENOTES. Fantasy aside, the album was released complete with an 80 page hardback book which provided some history and photos of Hofner guitars. It's extremely self indulgent, even more so than STONY ROAD and HOFNER No. 1, and you'll need half a day to listen to it from start from finish. But if you like STONY ROAD you will like this more. LEGACY BLUES is one tune off the album, Rea is playing some great blues here.