[New Release] ERIC GALES

There’s nothing bland about “Middle of the Road,” former teenage prodigy Eric Gales’ 15th studio album ripe with funky blues-rock and blazing guitars. Lyrically rooted in Gales’ sobering up, the disc features guest spots by Gary Clark Jr. and older brother Eugene; a songwriting collaboration with Lauryn Hill; and a Freddie King cover. Gales, whose playing of a right-handed guitar upside down and left-handed has to be seen to be fully appreciated, also performs bass duties, joined by his wife, LaDonna Gales, on soulful backing vocals. Opener “Good Time” is secular gospel with a magnetic guitar riff, pure energy and passion.

His new outlook on life are present already in track two, “Change In Me (The Rebirth),” featuring the line - “I got tired of doin’ bad, now I’m doin’ good.” Gales said Hill’s help was crucial with “Been So Long,” another of the songs with a positive mindset. Instrumental “Swamp” ends the album, a wild guitar tour-de-force that Gales describes as a “jam band, church-oriented sort of song.” Even if taken as an expression of diversity in worship, it will sound just as formidable to non-believers. AP