RGG February 2016 - p.12
The formidable blues star Rebecca Downes, hailing from Wolverhampton, returns in 2016 with
her second album titled 'Believe' which is to be released on the 4th of March. A special album
launch show will commence at London’s iconic 100 Club on February 23rd and she's heading out
this year for blues festivals and clubs up and down the country. The album is written by Rebecca
with co-writer Steve Birkett and produced by Mark V Stuart (Magnum, Jim Lea, Diamond Head
and more) and is the follow up to Downes’ 2015 debut album 'Back To The Start', which garnered
critical acclaim and support from Radio 2's Paul Jones, BBC Introducing and Planet Rock Radio.
Recently she made Blues Magazine's Top 50 albums of 2015 in their end of year edition and 2016
seems likely to be her biggest year to date.
Rebecca Downes has repeatedly turned down offers from X Factor producers in the past year in
order to carve out her music career organically and sincerely. This second album represents a
significant landmark in her journey and we at RGG investigated why this next album is so
important. As I was one of the first to review the previous debut album from Rebecca Downes
(and I'd praised it highly) I knew that before hearing her next album 'Believe' that it would be a
very revealing piece of work and it had lots to live up to. After all, I had now become a Rebecca
Downes fan and her now growing fanbase has, I'd imagine, a lot of my same concerns. Thankfully,
it's my pleasure to say that she means even more business this time round and there ain't nothing
that's going to bring her down....
Believe
New Album released 04/03/16
Album opener 'Never Gonna Learn' from
'Believe', the anticipated follow up to her
successful debut album 'Back To The Start',
swiftly reveals after an epic movie-like fade-in
intro that the winning formula consisting of
Rebecca Downes and co writer Steve Birkett
are firmly back with larger ideas and are
moving confidently further forward. 'Never
Gonna Learn' with lines such as “A broken
heart can mend itself” and “I only like it when it
hurts” are sung with such determination and
execution; totally complimented with superb
guitar work from start to finish; blinding us with
an exhilarating short to the point guitar solo that
reminds me of some of ZZ TOP's dirtiest
moments. It soon became clear that 'Believe' is
by far a bigger and superior record than it's
predecessor.
In the same way that her previous album
boasted a large range of blues themes, here on
'Believe' she's up to new tricks but with more
probing inner compassion on display. 'Long
Long Time' reads like Tina Turner's entire love
