Category Archives: DEL BROMHAM

DEL BROMHAM

DEL BROMHAM Nine Yards

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The production is clean and minimalist, appropriately giving the songs a natural, unpolished feel, allowing the casual man lyrics to echo clearly on their way to the listener, and the guitar playing to be absorbed with all its subtleties (mostly these of Bromham picking)…Nine Yards is an honest album, filled with simple, low profiled songwriting, played from the heart to the heart.

Maelstrom Zine (January 2014)


This is the follow-up to 2011′s Devil’s Highway and Bromham is more at ease, writing all 14 tracks, some of them quite personal, although he never lets that become a distraction. He has a sharp sense of rhythm, whether on the acoustic title track or on lively electric numbers like Don’t Throw Your Love Away or The Ballad Of JD where he uses his clear delivery to tell a good story.

Classic Rock Magazine (December 2013)


Uncovering social sores has long been the blues, and Bronham’s, foundation, but there’s a genuine compassion in Del’s tending to the women of the night’s toil in “Don’t Throw Your Love Away” that’s heavy and touching on all fronts. “I’m a man you can rely on,” sings the veteran closing it all with “Catch You When You Fall” which, with its infectious riff, would make a perfect opener but here entices the listener to go all the way back where the album begins. A head-swirling journey and a triumph.

DMME.net (November 2013)


The term Blues-rock does imply a fusion of blues and rock music, and this album is the perfect illustration of the sound. Nowhere is it more evident than in the track ‘Words’ – even the lyrical content brings to mind the words of typical American bluesmen. Smiling Face is a poignant song dedicated to Del’s daughter Zoe who is fighting cancer, and there’s even a bit of humour – I mean who would write a song about receiving bills? Del does. Sometimes, this genre of music can be a little inaccessible, but Del makes it fun and easy on the ear.

Bolton News (November 2013)


Del Bromham is famous for leading the group Stray back in the 1970s and lo and behold Del is back with a new 2013 CD on Angel Air called Nine Yards. With 14 newly penned rock songs that features Del with a solid support band, Nine Yards is more 21st century blues rock then the progressive neo-psych sound of mid 1970s Stray. The CD is quite well recorded and proves Del still has the right stuff on Nine Yards.

MWE3.com (October 2013)


A good album that will certainly help him gain the attention of blues followers without him loosing too many Stray fans in the process.

Blues Matters (October 2013)


For a guitarist who has built a career around thick, growling power chords, the playing on this album is at times wonderfully subtle and understated. Take the splashes of electric colour that illuminate ‘Everybody Has To Sing The Blues’ or the crystal clear picking on the acoustic title track and on the tender ‘Bring Them Home’.

But when Bromham chooses to rip it up, he does so with style. The pumping blues-rock of ‘Words’ sets up a stunning Walter Trout-esque solo/instrumental climax to die for. Likewise the high-octane outro to ‘You Don’t Know How I Feel’ and the rattling, buzzing ‘Catch You When You Fall’. And if the salvo of reverb bottle-neck heaven that opens ‘What Comes Around’ doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, check your vital signs immediately.

The voice fits the bill too. Check out the vocals cracked with pain on ‘Smiling Face’ (dedicated to Bromham’s daughter who is fighting cancer) and the worldly wise, reflective ‘Father and Daughter, Mother and Son’. His duet with Cherry Lee Mewis on ‘What Comes Around’ breaks things up nicely.

There are uplifting moments liberally scattered through the album. ‘World In a Suitcase’ is a slice of bar room boogie The Faces could have smashed out, and ‘The Ballad of JD’ has flashes of wry humour in its celebration of a certain Tennessee sour mash whiskey. Throughout the sound is crisp without being dry and sharp without being sterile. And a word here for the solid grooves laid down by Karl Randall on the drumstool. Save for the backing vocals and some harmonica, Bromham handles everything else.

A splendid departure for the main Stray cat. Let’s hope it isn’t another nine years before he picks up the blues baton again. ****/5

Dave Atkinson, www.getreadytorock.com (October 2013)


…Cherry Lee Mewis really adds something to this album and for me the strongest number is her duet with Del on ‘What Comes Around’ with it’s killer guitar riff and harmonica work, you can really sense the chemistry between them in this slab of deep south style, swamp blues and I love some off the slide guitar work…a more than impressive album.

Classic Rock Society (September/October 2013)


Each track on the album is a good showcase for Bromham’s vocal and guitar playing. “The Ballad of JD”, the title track, “Nine Yards”, “Everybody has to Sing the Blues”, “Words”, “Bring Them Home”, “Smiling Face”, with its wonderful acoustic guitar, “Bills”, and the closer “Catch You When You Fall” are the best tracks on the album from my ears.

All in all a good introduction for me to this English blues legend. Give it a try if you are a blues fan that wants to hear a new voice and rhythm.

Sea of Tranquillity (September 2013)


…Del remains a force to be reckoned with, and his new Angel Air album delivers an arresting celebration of the power of the blues, whether it be the acoustic charms of the title tune or the more high octane delights of tracks such as “The Ballad of JD”, “Words” or “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”.

Kevin Bryan, Halesowen News (August 2013)

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DEL BROMHAM Devil’s Highway

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While Stray’s sound leans more towards straight-ahead, classic/ hard rock, Devil’s Highway allowed him the chance to finally indulge in his love of traditional blues. The result was this stripped down, eleven track, acoustic / electric affair , that took him outside of the familiar sound of his ‘other’ band.

From the opening acoustic, swamp slide of the title track, it won’t take the listener long to realize that Del is indeed the real deal…

Well into his sixth decade in music, Del Bromham is still going strong and thankfully shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. If you want a real taste of what an authentic blues record should sound like in the 00′s, then look no further than Devil’s Highway. This was a superb release back in 2004, but now with the added bonus tracks, you can consider this reissue to be the definitive version.

Ryan Sparks, www.seaoftranquility.org (June 2011)


An album that takes a time-honoured approach to music, rock fans will lap this one up

Hi-Fi magazine (June 2011)


..splendid solo set…indulging his lifelong love of the blues…

Kevin Bryan, various UK regional press (July 2011)


Good though ‘Devil’s Highway’ is this set of bonus songs actually makes this version into a far better album than it originally was.

Fireworks (Sept/Oct 2011)

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