180g vinyl with color insert and download link on a color printed card with two additional songs.
After a decades-long professional career as a highly respected sideman, harmonica icon Steve Baker released his first solo album as a singer, songwriter, and frontman in 2018. "Perfect Getaway" received excellent reviews and revealed a completely new side to the mid-sixties musician. Since then, he has played over 50 shows with his band The LiveWires, developing an instantly recognizable sound over the past two years that now regularly delights live audiences.
The heart of the band is the interplay between Jan Mohr's exciting guitar sounds, the rock-solid bass of Brit Jeff Walker, and the elastic grooves of young drummer Henri Jerratsch, who joined the band in early 2019. Together, they form the foundation for Baker's expressive vocals and rousing harp arrangements.
Added to this are beautiful backing vocals from Steve's daughter Gina. The wiry, sparsely arranged sound with captivating choral vocals provides the perfect medium for Baker's idiosyncratic songs to shine. In July 2019, Steve and the band spent a week at Maffay producer Peter Keller's Chefrock Studio in Hamburg to record new material with sound engineer Tillmann Ilse. The result, "The Great Divide," features 11 new originals as well as a captivating cover version of Dylan's "This Wheel's On Fire."
The album shows that Baker has now shifted into a higher gear and impressively demonstrates how much he has grown as a singer and songwriter over the past two years. Unlike its predecessor, "The Great Divide" is clearly recognizable as a band album. Although the songs are very different, the sparse instrumentation and consistent lineup give them a definitive band identity, a sound that has grown together and clearly comes from a single source.
All basic tracks, including vocals, were recorded live at Chefrock Studio, with the few overdubs and corrections then done at fmi Tonstudio Hamburg and Eject Studio in Handeloh. As with "Perfect Getaway," Steve mixed the production at Mühle der Freundschaft with Marcus Praed, who was also responsible for mastering. Overall, the songs are rockier than on the first album and span a broad stylistic spectrum, from pulsating British beats to funky New Orleans grooves, from songwriter to dark modern-day blues. Baker's feeling for timeless pop music is just as evident as his penchant for catchy, harder-edged rock songs, and his unmistakable harp playing—always in service to the respective song—is the icing on the cake.
His songs speak of life, love, and the pursuit of happiness in the age of lies. They radiate poise and strike a deeply personal note that unsparingly reflects our turbulent times.
A-Side
1. Don't Turn Your Back On Love
2. Don't Worry About The Money
3. Steppin' High
4. Long Distance Man
5. State of Grace
B-side
1. Judgment Day
2. This Wheel's On Fire
3. Too Late
4. Fools & Scoundrels
5. The Great Divide
