Reviewed by Jamie Hailstone

One of the biggest hits at this year's Edinburgh Festival was American duo God's Pottery. Put simply, God's Pottery are two American comedians who went down a storm with their own parody of Christian music, which included songs like "Jesus, I Need A Drink" and "The Pants Comes Off When The Ring Goes On". The reason I'm telling you this is that several of the tracks on this, Plug 'N Play Band's second CD, verge, rather unintentionally, into God's Pottery territory. Musically this CD is great stuff. The German and Swedish band have an authentic soul sound, like the Commitments and the Blues Brothers before them. If you want funky horn lines, groovy bass playing, Hammond organ swirls and greasy guitar lines then this is the place to find them. What lets the whole affair down are some of the lyrics. Take "Next To Me", which has a riff straight out of the Steve Cropper book of Memphis soul, and is all about the perils of illegally downloading software. Their song about Alpha courses, "Alpha Song", contains the immortal line: "My plate was almost empty, when a guy stood up to talk/But first he asked me a question, I nearly dropped my fork." The title track is mercifully free of cliché and kicks like judo. It's one of those songs where everything comes together beautifully. Likewise, "Number One", grooves along like Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart". There are very few Christian bands willing to take on the genre of blues and soul. There should be more of them. Let's hope the Plug N' Play Band can work on some of those lyrics for the next one.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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