From the opening sounds of waves crashing against the shore, Sir Brian May\u2019s vocals transport you back to the halcyon days of Stax Records at their peak on the valedictory ballad, \u2018My Angels Are Calling,\u2019 \u2013 for which he wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music. \u201cGo Billy!\u201d calls May as he brings in ZZ Top\u2019s Billy F. Gibbons who lends his fingers to the end solo.\u00a0 \u201cBrian is singing from Steve\u2019s point of view,\u201d says Tiven of the Queen man\u2019s touching lyrics. Looking back over his life and his road. It\u2019s very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200b Reflecting on the sessions, Brian remembers:\u00a0\u201cWe were all incredibly sad at Steve\u00b4s passing, and I was already collaborating with Steve and his band on a track for this album. The backing track which Jon Tiven, producer of the album and a very old friend of mine, sent me includes Steve Cropper\u00b4s unmistakable riff in a style which has influenced us all massively over the years.\u00a0 As soon as Steve was gone, I could hear something different in my head \u2013 a tribute to Cropper himself. The way I saw it, I wanted to try to step into his mind at the moment when he knew it was time to move on. So in the track I\u00b4m attempting to speak with his voice, and I felt that spiritually he would find a way of bringing his usual optimism into play. In the song, the angels are calling, and it seems to me that, along with being grateful for his wonderful life, he would imagine heaven to be something like going back to sitting on the dock of the bay, a moment in time that he shared with Otis Redding creating that immortal hit, \u2018Dock of the Bay\u2019.\u00a0 Having Billy Gibbons play a spectacular solo for me is the final wonderful bonus to this experience.\u00a0 The whole band did a terrific job, and I\u00b4m very proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The album features further A-List collaborations including \u2018Until Now\u2019,<\/a>\u00a0which makes stellar use of The Rolling Stones\u2019 Ronnie Wood\u2019s stinging slide, as Tiven recalls the session: \u201cRonnie Wood got back to me about 10 minutes after I sent off my email: \u2018Oh, this looks like a lot of fun. I\u2019ll jump in.\u2019
\u200b
The first song to be released from the album was the tough Southern-smoked blues of \u2018Ticket First<\/a>\u2019, which started with a joke and ended with Cropper and fellow rock royalty Eric Clapton riffing nose-to-nose. \u201cI told Eric, \u2018Man, you just turned that song inside-out \u2013 I think we\u2019re gonna have to give you a writer\u2019s credit,\u201d recalls Tiven of the legendary British guitarist\u2019s transcendent solo. \u201cAnd Eric said, \u2018Well, anything to get my name next to Steve Cropper\u2019s\u2026\u2019\u201d
\u200b
To anyone who knows the roots and branches of American music, the passing of Steve Cropper in December 2025 was seismic. As a guitarist, songwriter, producer and engineer \u2013 not just for the iconic Stax record label but on a forest of sessions and solo releases \u2013 the Tennessee soul man was the DNA that coursed through the post-war era, his fabled right hand setting the pace of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll for 60-plus years.
\u200b
It\u2019s a huge statement for a musical colossus who towered over the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll age. Yet to play this posthumous release is to hear an all-time great still at the top of his game, blending the burning passion of youth with the wisdom of an old master. Steve Cropper might have left us, but Watching The Tide indicates that there is much more still to hear from him.
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