Jeff Healey – Holding On – A Heal My Soul Companion

23rd November 2016 1 By John Deaux

Earlier this year there & released what would have his 50th birthday, was a brand new Jeff Healey album entitled Heal My Soul. 9 months on there’s another brand new album by the legend Jeff Healey.

Holding On – A Heal My Soul Companion is what it says on the cover. A superb bookend to the last release. Once again this is put together by the state to keep his legacy alive. 5 studio tracks & a concert recorded in Norway back in 1999 is a treat.

The 5 studio tracks are as hard as nails & Healey is shredding like a mandoline grater. The studio tracks show a rockier side to Jeff’s bluesmanship.

Recorded at around the same time as Heal My Soul, these outtakes are a great insight into the man himself. 95% complete & just missing over dubs & partial production the tracks are old school Jeff.

Love Takes Time is a rocker of a song. The guitar noodles over the rhythm track & there’s the unmistakable Healey trademark solo.

2nd track Every Other Guy is more bluesy. The vocal sounds like a guide take as it’s a little rough & the guitar solo has a couple of dodgy notes. It’s great to hear how the man recorded. The backing track sounds like it’s a master take as it’s just the vocal & solo that needed touching up.

Dancing With The Monsters is a funky tune. Once again a couple of off kilter notes in the solo, yet its old school Jeff with his heavy foot firmly on the wah pedal.

Penultimate track All That I Believe is a typical Jeff Healey ballad. The acoustic guitar is forward in this mix with the electric guitar behind playing a steady rhythm track. The solo has a wonderful warm tone before breaking down to just bass, drums & vocal for a verse.

Final studio track CNIBlues is beautiful. A 60 second proper Jeff Healey instrumental blues noodle. A great closer before the live concert starts..

Had these tracks been 100% finished they could’ve easily have been on Heal My Soul.

These tracks are real old school Healey. It certainly has the listener wondering what the man, myth & legend would be writing & recording now.

The live tracks are amazing especially the live version of I Can’t Get My Hands On You. Of course you have the blues standards of Dust My Broom (Elmore James), Yer Blues (The Beatles) & How Blue Can You Get (B.B King).

Jeff is on fine form & his on stage banter is as comedic as ever. To listen to an unreleased Jeff Healey live recording is quite simply an orgasmic experience & to have 2 new albums in the same year from the master is just pant wetting.

Jeff Healey is truly missed. If this is just a sample of what is left in the vault then there will hopefully be more gems to come.

Many thanks to the Healey estate for ‘rescuing’ these unreleased recordings & unleashing them into the ether for fans to appreciate

Score 9.5/10

Track List
1. Love Takes Time
2. Every Other Guy
3. Dancing With The Monsters
4. All That I Believe
5. CNIBlues
6. My Little Girl (Live)
7. Dust My Broom (Live)
8. How Blue Can You Get (Live)
9. I Think I Love You Too Much (Live)
10. Stuck In The Middle With You/Tequilla (Live)
11. Macon Georgia Blue (Live)
12. I Can’t Get My Hands On You (Live)
13. Yer Blues (Live)
14. Holding On (Live)
15. See The Light (Live)