Review by Samuel J. Fell
Clayton Doley – Explosive Love (Independent)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, music appreciatives across the land – may I suggest you wrap your ears around this one, let it seep into your soul, feel it in your fingers and your toes, and indeed, if it ain’t making you jump and jive then perhaps, just maybe, you’re not long for this world – for this is Clayton Doley at his explosive best, bending those ivories to his every whim, backed to the hilt (and then some) by his crack band, blending the boogie, woogie, N’awlins via Australia and right back again – this is Explosive Love, and it’s a party, man, make no mistake.
It’s been a steady solo journey for Doley, Explosive Love following on the heels of Nervous, Changing Man, Optimisticand the acclaimed Bayou Billabong – plus, during these years, he’s worked with others far and wide, and it’s safe to say that the wait for this new one (however short it may have been) has been worth it, for over the course of seven songs (keeping it tight), Doley and band stretch out and just play, the songs easing into one another like honey seeping downhill. Recorded at Freight Train Studios, with a core band that includes long-time drummer Dave Hibbard, bassist Ben Rogers (also the engineer) and guitarist Franco Raggatt, Explosive Love is a damn solid representation of soul, rhythm & blues with an undeniable groove that is so very Australian, despite its obvious roots, so very Doley just by how it all plays out.
Doley writes six of the seven tracks, three of those with his wife, Belinda, capping the record off with a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Help Me’, a Hammond and piano-drenched, horn-laden and guitar-stained homage to the legendary bluesman, low down and dirty with backing vocals from Mahalia Barnes and Jade Macrae. Horns come courtesy of James Greening (trombone), Nick Garbett (trumpet), Matt Keegan (tenor sax) and Steve Fitzmaurice (baritone sax), with Fabian Hevia adding extra percussion on ‘New Rule’, ‘How Much Will I Make’ and ‘Better The Devil You Know’.
Doley is, of course, well known on the scene – he’s been a part if it for decades, and Explosive Love shows why; it’s music that we all know and love, but it’s done with such obvious love and enthusiasm, not to mention with the poise and skill one would expect from Doley, that it jumps from the speakers like it’s new and fresh – it’s Explosive Love, and it’s right on point from one of Australia’s best keepers of the soul / roots flame.