Despite the fact that this is his 31st album over the course of a 40-odd year career, Hammond is still trying new things. For Push Comes To Shove he enlisted Philadelphian hip-hopper G Love as producer. This may raise a few eyebrows but it works, as G Love keeps the right balance between respecting the warmth and rawness of the material and giving it a punchy, modern sound.
It’s also the first album to include so many of Hammond’s original compositions. They sound so right alongside the reworkings of Tom Waits’ Cold Water and tunes by Junior Wells and Little Walter that it’s a mystery he didn’t write more on previous albums. Tore Down is a highlight, with sprinklings of rap from G Love that sound so natural and unforced that it makes one wonder where other attempts at the blues-rap crossover went wrong. Another is Eyes Behind Your Head, a jazzy workout that sets up one of the album’s best grooves.
Hammond’s voice is better than ever here. Over the past few decades it’s grown into a husky bellow and here he imbues it with a magnetic charisma that stamps authority over other people’s compositions as well as his own.
