Chris Spedding - Click Clack (2005)

You certainly can't call Chris Spedding's 2005 release, Click Clack, a true blues album. While the respected session guitarist's roots certainly lay in blues-rock, the production is too pristine and the performances too perfect to be classified as blues. But if your forte is mature, mainstream rock with a slight bluesy edge (à la Eric Clapton's latter-day work), then Click Clack will be right up your alley. Even at his most upbeat, Spedding manages to keep everything extremely laid-back -- the tempos, the licks, even his Mark Knopfler-like vocals. The album's title comes from an old Captain Beefheart track, which Spedding covers here (and which turns out to be one of the album's highlights), while two other instrumental covers prove to be highlights -- the jazzy "Ramblin'" (by Ornette Coleman) and the album closer, "Last Date" (by Floyd Cramer). But not all of Click Clack consists of covers, as evidenced by such Spedding originals as the album opener, "Hilife" (which sounds comparable to a song you'd hear while waiting on the phone for your computer's tech support), "Hear Your Daddy," and "How to Get Rid of the Blues." He'll probably forever be best known for playing with others, but Spedding has his own voice, as evidenced by Click Clack.