Always Being kicks off with Looking for Adventure, an excellent track that starts off with some bluesy guitaring before exploding into a real “Born to be Wild” feel. Kai and the drums lay down an awesome foundation that leaves plenty of room for Mike to show that he’s indeed “got the blues”. Add some great female backing vocals (courtesy of Lynne Poulsen and Debbie Rivett) and tenor sax, and you have yourself a need to ride. In short, if this song doesn’t make you want to, no, let me rephrase, need to own a Harley, nothing will.

Track 2, Always Been, slows you down immediately with a deep and slow bass feel supported by steady drumming and periodic whining (in a good way) sax. If track one made you want to ride, this one will make you want to sit in a corner in a dark and smokey club, sipping on a JD, and pondering the authenticity of love and your life in general. Always Been features a great bass solo roughly half way into the song that allows Kai to very successfully step into the spotlight before a very jazzy interlude leads you deeper into the corner.

Skipping ahead through the very nice Dave Matthews-ish It Means Nothing, you find the much more upbeat Down, a great track that merges rock and blues beautifully and handles a topic quite close to the heart of many blues musicians – the femme fatale. Now, in my almost 25 years on this planet, I have learnt the hard way that it is rather wise for me to tread lightly around this subject, so suffice to say that it handles the subject matter splendidly while combining all the elements of great blues-rock – sweet interludes, throbbing bass and drums, and shredding guitar solos, all the while polished off with razor lead vocals and highly appropriate sax ‘licks’.

Following on Hot Blood - which effortlessly blends jazz with a 1920s-Swing feel - and Chasing Rainbows - a great bluesy ballad with a rather intense jazz-meets-rock interlude and a continuous alto-recorder (saxophonist Ekkie Eckhart) creating sounds that would make Ian Anderson proud - is Mike Meiring’s adaptation of Master Beck’s Highway Jam. Starting off with and being driven by the bass down there, this song glides on with some amazing sax, guitar and organ work (Lynne Poulsen). Again, Kai doesn’t disappoint - amidst the merciless thumping, he steps up to show off some great bass work in the front before gracefully stepping back to make some room for a great guitar/organ duet, the likes of which I last experienced in the Ritchie Blackmore days of Deep Purple. This is definitely a highlight on the album for me.

Track 8 is called Out in the Woods, which is very aptly titled if the intention was to create a feeling of desolation. Very slow, very bluesy, and very it’s-3a.m-and-I-don’t-think-I-should-drive-(or-even-walk)-in-this state, this track may just be best enjoyed on a leather couch, sipping red wine (is it just me or do I talk a lot about alcohol in my columns?) and enjoying great company (see Down).

I Will Survive tears you away from your sinful couch and glass of red wine with very funky bass lines, equally funky guitaring and drums, some Lenny Kravitz-ish sax, and Mike Meiring displaying a rather (yes, you guessed it) funky and upbeat vocal style that is rather different from most of the rest of the album.

Run takes this upbeat feel up a few more notches up with some more Deep Purple-ish guitar/organ duets, great guitar solos nicely interrupted by a mouth harp (Mike), and yet another series of great bass riffs, and excellent female backing vocals.

Track 11, Fire and Rain, slows us down a bit again to somewhere between Out in the Woods and I Will Survive by creating for me a feel of a river flowing alongside an open field somewhere.

Finally, Seeds of Greed combines many of the elements found in the other tracks – a continuous slow feel with great “flute” work supported by the bass and percussion work – to round off the album beautifully.