John Mayall

★★★ The Sun Is Shining Down FORTY BELOW. CD/DL/LP

The man who makes the Stones look like striplings is still mired in the blues.

Few jobs require as much professional misery as being a veteran bluesman. Mayall is 88 and love is still doing him wrong – the first four songs are full of cheatin’ women, busted hearts and angry phone calls (no one sends a text in the blues). Happily, later he starts to cheer up: he’s still dreaming of One Special Lady and the title track salutes his happy Californian home. All this is backed by Mayall’s traditional blues-boogie and spiced with guest axemen offering minor variants on B.B. King/ Albert King string-bending. A shot of rootsy fiddle from Scarlet Rivera makes a refreshing change. Little here would be out of place on a Mayall record of the 1960s; while partners may be fickle, Mayall and the blues are wedded for life.