I’ve found a new guitar hero and he’s not a pointy guitar wielding shredder, don’t get me wrong Josh Smith has the chops to keep up with the most seasoned fretboard gymnast but Josh plays a combination of instrumental blues, funk and jazzy pop with a kind of Hendrix feel. I was sent Josh’s new release “Inception” after hearing a few tracks on his MySpace page and being immediately impressed. I’m not sure I’ve ever owned a blues guitar instrumental album before, those albums usually come in a rock flavour and can wear your ears down pretty quickly, not so with Inception this album oozes some of the greatest blues tones you will ever hear. Josh plays a combination of Bludotone and Mad Professor amps and he also endorses guitars by Chapin, Ruokangas and Gibson which produce some incredible combinations.

The album opens with a track called Bemsha Swing which I believe was originally written by Thelonius Monk and features a brass section and some beautiful jazzy blues playing. It is a nice way to open the album but doesn’t have the impact of my favourite track Fulfillment which I would have chosen, this track is just a brilliant swinging track from start to finish with the Hammond jangling away and the horns playing dissonant stabs. It also features some tasty playing with a great “chewy”, I believe is the adjective I’m looking for, tone.

The next track Hairflip is another favourite for me, great funky melody and nice use of the Hammond and Horn section who leave plenty of room for the melody to breathe. Also another track that tickled my fancy is Penance which is a slow blues, kind of reminded me of Gary Moore but without the singing and a single coil guitar! There is a great crescendo at the end of the track Canyon where Josh has a Hendrix/Trower moment with overdriven Wah.

Josh shows that he is not a one trick pony with his slide playing on Just Within Reach and his chicken pickin’ on the rockabilly track Propulsion which as always with these kind of tracks are a lot of fun to listen to and I bet much harder to play than they sound!

This album is a serious contender for the album of the year for me and its only the 3rd week of January but it is so much fun to listen to I’ve had it on constant rotation since Josh sent it to me.