Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Love's Middle Name (2018)

The only time I’ve seen Sarah Borges play live I had to travel 250 miles for the privilege. Well; in those days my job took me around the country and I’d made appointments accordingly so I could stay over in Nottingham; but you get my point.
Constantly evolving and reinventing herself, I was excited but didn’t really know what to expect when I first played this album a few weeks ago; but subsequently it’s been my ‘go to’ album when I needed something loud and noisy in the car.
The venomous House On a Hill sets the scene perfectly for a musical ride that’s the perfect accompaniment for driving around town in an MG Midget with only four gears and a rag-roof on a sultry Autumn evening.
Sarah’s voice has aged nicely in the intervening years; and her songwriting and storytelling shows no sign of diminishing either; certainly if the Power Ballad Let Me Try It or the sizzling Girlie Book, which isn’t quite as risqué as I’d hoped, are anything to go by; and they aren’t alone.
With so many genres to pick from these days I’m stumped for where this fits in…… but think Lucinda fronting the Georgia Satellites as her voice lives and breathes every word she sings, and the band which revolves around the industrial powerhouse of Binky and Phil Cimino on bass and drums (although Ed Arnold also bashes out a neat beat on two tracks) prove a perfect foil for Ms Borges gritty and heartfelt vocals while Producer extraordinaire Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambler supplies some really astonishing guitar all the way through.
Ambler’s slick production allows the band to R.O.C.K but lets the listener actually hear and appreciate the lyrics; which is a joy to behold on Lucky Rocks and the Honky Tonkiest song this side of the Cumberland Gap; Get As Gone Can Get.
There’s also a couple of smashing ballads here too, first and foremost is the acoustic Oh Victoria which showcases Sarah’s mellower side; but the song itself is also quite spiky too, which is as good a word as any to describe Grow Wings too; which is a real pot-boiler and so atmospheric you can virtually smell the sweat in the studio.
Then of course I have to choose a Favourite Song for you; and for once it was quite an easy decision; even though plenty of others were contenders; but Are You Still Taking Them Pills is both a firecracker and a showstopper of a song. Wryly observational of the people that inhabit small towns not just in America but across the Western World, Sarah Borges turns the original Western Swing tune by Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay into a sleazy and tightly wrapped Rock n Roll tune of the finest magnitude!
There’s not a lot else to say; as the songs and Sarah Borges herself speak for themselves and all I can do now, is advise you buy it then another copy for someone you think deserves an album that just might change their lives for the better.

Tracklist:
01. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - House On A Hill
02. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Lucky Rocks
03. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Oh Victoria
04. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Let Me Try It
05. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Are You Still Takin Them Pills
06. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Get As Gone Can Get
07. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Grow Wings
08. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Headed Down
09. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Girlie Book
10. Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - I Can't Change It