UBER ROCK

Like a modern day wandering minstrel, Johnny Bennett has made his home in different corners of the U.S. of A, and the wide range of influences to be heard on this, his second album, are testament to that.

The title track breezes effortlessly out of the speakers and instantly I imagine that when Lenny Kravitz lost his soulful mojo all those years ago, Johnny Bennett was walking fifty paces behind and picked it up for safe keeping. If this was to be true, he's certainly making excellent use of it. Second song 'You Played It Well' is an early highlight, with its steady beat and great time changes it soars and swoops majestically before blending almost seamlessly into the mellow 'Sweet Memories'.

It's horizontally laid back at times and has a swaggering strut others, the best example of the latter being the sleazy riff that drives 'I'll Never Be This High Again'. Album closer is stunningly haunting ballad 'New War Countries', soulful Americana in torn jeans and dark shades at its best.

Johnny Bennett is a talented singer songwriter, and 'Gone Missing' is a superbly cool record that, in a perfect world, should see responsible grownups making it the soundtrack to their late summer evenings on the patio, whilst having interesting conversations about Johnny being a more organic version of Beck, or a modern day mixture of the best of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Paul Weller: unfortunately this isn't always the case, and as such Johnny Bennett has struggled to find a record company to distribute the album, which would have been our loss completely. Fortunately for the world, Johnny has recently signed a new deal that will see this album re-released in conjunction with his debut, 'Violet Hush'. If you want to enjoy and support real talent, seek this man out - your life will be better for it.

Jamie Richards - UBER ROCK