Peter Gunn and the Neatbloods

Peter Gunn and the Neatbloods – Life Savings

Cat Records – CAT040 [2022]
Good Intentions – Let It Flow – Stomp To The Boogie – Unlucky Man – Please Stop Doin’ Me Wrong – I Don’t Know – I Should’ve Walked On – Hey Bobcat – You Don’t Know My Mind – That Flat Did It

Peter Gunn is, of course, the guitarist and main songwriter for the Inmates. Outside of the Inmates, he has collaborated on numerous other projects, but it wasn’t until 2022, at 65, that he decided to release his first solo album. And he was right to do so.
So we slip the disc into the player, and the first thing that strikes us is Gunn’s voice. We’re so used to seeing him with his guitar alongside singers like Bill Hurley (or Barrie Masters) that we’re surprised to hear his voice. Let it be said, Peter Gunn sings, and well at that. To accompany him, he chose two veterans: Jim Russell (Inmates, Ducks Deluxe, Stargazers) on drums and Matt Radford (Carl Sonny Leyland, Holy Golightly, Ronnie Dawson, Shout Sister Shout, Planet Rockers, etc.) on double bass and bass, along with Jil Caplan on backing vocals. Mathieu Rabaté, Dominique Grimaldi, and Bruno Bongarçon make occasional appearances.
The album is a joyful hodgepodge that reflects the guitarist’s rich and varied influences. Of course, there are blues, ranging from the traditional Please Stop Doin’ Me Wrong to the harder, more urban, Captain Beefheart-esque I Should’ve Walked On, and in between, the superb, soulful You Don’t Know My Mind.
Peter had dabbled in rockabilly during the Inmates era, notably with the excellent Let’s Move, but never as brilliantly as on Stomp The Boogie, Hey Bobcat, and That Flad Did It, which give pride of place to incisive guitar solos.
There’s also a good dose of psychedelia, whether in touches with Good Intentions, tempered by a Beatles-style pop melody, or more frankly on Let It Flow, with its echoes of George Harrison.
All this would be more than enough to satisfy the most demanding of rockers, but Peter Gunn/Staines finishes us off with two superb ballads that showcase the artist’s melodic expertise, capable of writing short songs, seemingly innocuous, but which instantly sound like standards. The acoustic Unlucky Man evokes the heyday of the Kinks (no less), while the gentle I Don’t Know looks more towards Liverpool.
The album is short and tight with no filler. You can tell Peter Gunn is having fun at every moment, and the fun is contagious.