BRUM BEAT

Hard to believe it, but KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS have been doing their swing for almost 20 years and a variety of line ups. For their umpteenth album, Hey, ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Puerto Rico (Big Bear) they're joined by new piano man Matt Foundling and embrace no less than eight numbers penned by KP himself. Musically, they keep true to their roots with swing, jive, and blues given extra colours with, as the title suggests, some tropical grooves and, on Back To Birmingham, shades of Kingstown ska. After all this time, they can play this stuff in their sleep so it's a mark of their vitality that they never sound as if they are. It's relaxed, off the shoulder stuff, the King's vocals gruffly brown and throaty, sounding like he's swallowing a gallon of cuba libre as he sings up a storm on the likes of Barracuda, Trapped In The Web of Love or All Or Nothing. With a clutch of instrumentals (Floyd Dixon's Don't Leave Me Baby and James Giuffre's Big Girl among them) showing off the bands chops on parping saxes, growly organs and throbbing double bass, this is another dose of KP goodtime, limb loosening stuff inviting you in, as the man sings, for Just One Drink and then giving you the run of the bar.