The Buzz: "After my wife Kim's death two years ago," says the ex-Faces organist, "I didn't know whether I'd ever write again, but it became part of the healing. The songs are about loss and obsession. I record in my home studio in Texas. I wrote the title track on Balmoral Beach in Sydney, Australia, staring out at the ocean. Where Angels Hide, which is just me at the piano, was captured in a chapel in central Texas. Patty Griffin guests, Glyn Johns is involved too. Musically it's whatever comes out: rhythm & blues, rock n' roll with a whole lot of soul."

Mojo Review

****

Rockin' sixth solo album by ex-Small Faces keyboardist

Piano-driven and with more swagger than a sailor on shore leave, what sets Never Say Never apart from other Ian McLagan solo releases is the tenderness with which it is sung. Dealing with themes of death and loss that is Brit Beat for men behaving bravely. McLagan has always sung with confidence, but here his impassionedly hoarse vocals sound less like Steve Marriott's stunt double and more like a man pleading for redemption, a pint of Guinness and some answers from God. Rockers such as I'm Hot, You're Cool have always seemed effortless but only a man who finds himself standing alone in the shadows of late life could have written and convincingly sung slower numbers like Where Angels Hide and When the Crying is Over. It's pub-rock's answer to Blood on the Tracks. Sid Griffin