“…….we are treated to dead honest blues. The eleven songs are nothing less than excellent, including six written by Kinsley, a fine guitarist and singer. … The two other tracks are covers of Sleepy John Estes’ “Drop Down Mama”, a song from 1935 that inspired Led Zeppelin’s “Custard Pie”, and of the wonderful “Two-Time Boogie” by the fantastic Studebaker John. Wicked Grin does an excellent version of both songs, but in fact, the band doesn’t need to do covers, as its own songs are more than strong enough.

Right from the opening song, “Outta Time Train”, we know that this album will be good. With fine rhythm, Rod Williams lets the blues harp grind and scream. Add in the somewhat raw, but always appropriate voice of Kinsley, and we’re off for a lovely blues trip of more than four minutes. With Murray showing us what a fine guitarist he is, we are already won over. It’s soon apparent that the level of the great opening song is maintained with the equally catchy “Looking Down”, with Kinsley’s style somewhat more narrative on vocals, a solid rhythm section, and the guitar’s surprising change of pace, which makes us sit increasingly on the edge of our seat. In the Sleepy John Estes song mentioned above, the entire band shines, but we cannot deny the extra panache of Williams, who is downright brilliant in this classic.

……..The dreamy, contemplative, acoustic intro of “Down On Love” gives us a suitable respite. The brilliant solos in the middle and at the end of the song, the fitting backing vocals, the supportive keyboard… it all makes us want to rush to the repeat button.

The very successful version of “Two-Time Boogie” shows good hard work, proving that WG can easily handle a variety of styles! Then we are completely overwhelmed by “Your Turn To Cry”, a simply beautiful boogie-blues shuffle starring the harmonica. Needless to say that the work of the guitar and bass is once again admirable. And if all that wasn’t already nice enough, they close off with “Heaven”, an unlikely, clever acoustic number that would have been completely perfect with just the guitar and vocals. ……We have no hesitation in describing songs like this as brilliant.

We enjoyed the entire fifty minutes of “Shame On Me”. Wicked Grin has produced an excellent album, and we are already looking forward to the band’s next album, if only because we want confirmation of this great work!