By Phillip Smith; April 11, 2020
Montreal-based Justin Saladino has a stellar new album, simply called Live. The recording took place over two nights at Piccolo Studios in Quebec for an audience of dedicated fans. Hearing the live takes from A Fool’s Heart and No Worries adds an extra layer of soul to the songs. With Saladino taking lead of this six-piece band on guitar and vocals, he is joined by guitarist Antoine Loiselle, keyboardist David Osei-Afrifa, drummer Denis Paquin, bassist Gabriel Forget, and percussionist Lucie Martel.
The album splendidly opens in a bluesy romantic direction with “Take What You Want”. Saladino’s vocals are smooth and confident. I love how he fearlessly brings “Purple Girl” to life with his guitar mastery. It rocks in a fabulous way. While beautifully wearing his heart on his sleeve, he lays down a slew of extraordinary licks on his break-up ballad “Peace With You”. Saladino packs a gob of delicious blues slide into Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How it Feels”, making for one hell of a cover.
JSB Live is one of the best live albums I’ve heard in a while. Saladino absolutely cooks on guitar.
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For more information about the artist, visit this website : justinsaladinoband.com
