Dennis Jones' "Pleasure & Pain" marks a big step forward for this blues guitar slinger. File this one with Todd Wolfe and Corey Stevens--all are rising guitar aces following in the considerable blues-rock shadow of Stevie Ray Vaughan. But unlike the hundreds of wanna-bees playing the same thing over and over again, Jones has the goods to break through. He writes all the songs here, and he has FUN featuring enough variety of styles in the 11 songs to hook fans of all kinds of blues. I can hear a little Jeff Beck, a little ZZ Top, a little Jimi Hendrix--but not so much that listening becomes an dull exercise in recognizing sources. There's a lot of Dennis Jones in every song here, a lot of Jones' inventive guitar work and good singing. This cd stays in the "hot stack" near my cd player way after the review was written. I especially enjoy "Kill The Pain," which has an especially fat guitar hook, and "Home Tonight," which has nice harmonica work by guest artist Jimmy Z, and "Hot Sauce," where Jones' burns it up like a demented Johnny Cash singing over stinging hot guitar work and that wonderful rockabilly beat from way back in the day. Every song here is worthy of your time, and those three are recommended for radio play.
I like Dennis Jones, and I enjoy this disc. I look forward to his next steps. You can purchase this disc at http://www.cdbaby.com
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