Review: Chas & Dave, That’s What Happens (Warner Bros)

The modern English debt to old America takes many forms. Here it is recast as a rescue act, not of international relations but of a once-novelty duo’s unbending devotion to the roots of contemporary pop: R&B, country, skiffle, New Orleans and the Dust Bowl … Chas Hodges’ and Dave Peacock’s real greatest hits.

It’s solid stuff, a sort of easy blend of rolling cock-er-ney garrulity with the roll of the American South. Joe Henry’s twiddling the knobs in Abbey Road and Martin Taylor’s on guitar. Buddy Holly, Leadbelly, Dave Bartholomew are in there too, in ghost form. Lonnie Donegan would be pra-a-ard – not least that the sweetest cut, “Ain’t No Pleasing You”, is an original worthy of Fats Domino. Well, almost.