At last Slim Chance release a live album that enables us to relive their fabulous live shows.

Release Date:  23rd February 2024

Label:  The Last Music Company

Format: CD / Digital

Finally, after more than a decade of excellent live shows all over the UK, we are treated to a live album by the mighty Slim Chance. Built around the core trio of Charlie Hart, Steve Simpson and Steve Bingham (who all played in various line ups of Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance in the seventies), the band has released four excellent studio albums mixing reworking of Ronnie Lane classics with excellent new songs. Live at the Greystones was recorded in May 2023 in the middle of a short spring tour that saw the band take the route that Ronnie Lane’s Passing Show undertook 50 years earlier.

The core trio on this recording was augmented by Brendan O’Neill on drums (long term Rory Gallagher drummer), Geraint Watkins on piano (Van Morrison, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and many more) and Frank Mead on Saxophone (Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings). Starting with a rollicking Rats Tale given a soulful Cajun vibe courtesy of Charlie Hart’s, the band then move to Flossie Lane, their homage to the pub landlady of the same name who run the Sun Inn in Leintwardine, Herefordshire for 74 years right up to her death at the age of 94 in 2009. Two Lane classics follow with the pastoral The Poacher proving one of the highlights of the set.

The Watkins original Mr Jones really brings the band’s instrumental cohesiveness to the fore, the rock solid rhythm section of Steve Bingham and Brendan O’Neill keeping a steady groove while Frank Mead’s harp, Steve Simpson’s guitar and Charlie Hart Fiddle mix together with gusto, a treat for the ears. Steve Simpson switches to mandolin for the singalong One For The Road while the gentle Don’t You Cry For Me from the masterful Anymore for Anymore sees Frank Mead shine on Alto Sax.

The groovy Kuschty Rye from the criminally underrated Lane solo album See Me is sung by Charlie Hart ably backed by his fellow Slim Chancers on the songs catchy chorus. Another classic follows with the Faces track Debris sung with passion by Mr Watkins and clocking at nearly seven minutes with an absolutely spellbinding guitar solo by Steve Simpson. We stay in Faces territory with a reworked You’re So Rude, transformed by its accordion and quicker tempo (again more than a hit of Cajun on this one) followed by the inevitable Oh La La led by Steve Simpson’s mandolin and Charlie Hart’s accordion, closing the show on an upbeat note. An encore of the traditional Good Night Irene sending back the crowd of Sheffielders happy !

Here’s a nostalgic look at Oh La La, should you need a nudge:

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