SEASICK Steve is a straight-forward guy, known for his BIY approach to music (blues-it-yourself).

Previously heralded for this rough-and-ready tendency, his stonking jams on home-made guitars fashioned from hubcaps and cigar boxes, he here displays a different side. True, the title track is a full on thrash, helped out by Led Zep bassist John Paul Jones, and Party does just what it suggests, but there is another facet to Steve.

Opener Treasures sees him performing an acoustic folk song that is touching, simple and beautifully sung, while last track It’s A Long Life is a rough-hewn homily to life, not giving up on dreams and making mistakes.

Not poetry exactly, but strangely moving when delivered in the rasp of a man who has lived. An entire album of such slowed-down Steve might be quite something. And raise a glass to Whiskey Ballad, a folk song in praise of the golden drink.