Shepherd’s Bush Empire, LondonLulu and Imelda May bring powerhouse guest vocals but the Rolling Stone can’t match up in this mediocre homage
The tribute album is a strange beast. While invariably well-intentioned, its unwanted side effect is often to show up the relative limitations of the artist paying homage and Ronnie Wood’s new album, Mad Lad, is a textbook example.
The record is a set of roistering live covers of key moments from the career of Chuck Berry, whom Wood feels “never got his dues”. This is a moot point: Berry was certainly ripped off in his early years, but the fact he is now regarded as the progenitor of rock’n’roll, and left an estate of $50m when he died in 2017, confirms that respect has since been paid in full.