Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey’s long-mooted collaboration has been hastened by Johnson’s terminal pancreatic cancer – not that ‘Going Back Home’ is a tranquil trip to the other side. The pair attack a chunky selection of bluesy Wilko originals with gusto, the choppy ‘Ice On The Motorway’ firing up memories of Johnson veering crazily across the stage in his Dr Feelgood days, and Daltrey growling as fruitily as ever on the harmonica-fuelled title track. There’s one cover, an unsubtle holler through Dylan’s ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’, but this is no time to be reining anything in anyway. If it’s to be Johnson’s epitaph, ‘Going Back Home’ has enough spike and thrust to be a worthy sign-off.
Matthew Horton