Jake Bugg
Shangri La
November 18 2013 (Jake Bugg Records / Virgin)
7/10
Words: Alison Mack
The Nottingham lad whose skiffle-ease has wooed the masses and drawn comparisons to the likes of Dylan, Cash and Young, returns with his second album of rock n roll. Now if you're a fan of the Buggster this will no doubt supply enough to have you shaking-and-a-rattling. Aside from having taken on producer Rick Rubin (recorded at The Band's former Shangri La studio in Malibu, where the album title is taken from) there is little here, however, to supply any real surprises, and feels simply more like the 'Part Two' of his debut, which itself was only released in October last year - perhaps an indication that when you take a boy out of the council estate and slap him down in amongst the Hollywood big boys, it doesn't necessarily make for a better album.
There are the boogies, like the rockabilly of 'Slumville Sunrise' with a middle pummeled guitar solo, and 'Kingpin', the song about a drug dealer, chugs along a blues-rock path; meanwhile, album opener, the Dylan-styled 'There's A Beast And We All Feed It' takes the skiffle route. Mingling in amidst these are the lower tempo ballad 'A Song About Love', and the relationship lament 'Me And You', in which he lyrically alludes to the brief time spent with Cara Delevingne. 'Pine Trees', is effective in its stripped back acoustic basics of just him and a guitar. 'Shangri La' is a work of two halves basically, with the first supplying the rock - his big building electric rocker 'What Doesn't Kill You' being one - and the second, taking on the easier, rolling delicate contemplations.
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