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Live albums used to be something bands got round to once their careers were in full flow, but Blues Pills are bucking that long tradition by releasing one barely three minutes into their own fledgling trajectory.

Although we’re well past the format’s 70s heyday, this recording – made at the Freak Valley festival in Germany last year – makes up for lost time by sounding like it could have been recorded in 1972, from the spoken-word introduction to the band’s vintage sonics.

To borrow the parlance of TV singing contests, Elin Larsson nails everything thrown at her (she’s brilliant on the bluesy Dig In and No Hope Left For Me), while the band are fearsomely fully formed. A Greatest Hits package is sure to follow./o:p

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.