Ronnie Wood really has enjoyed a wonderful career. Despite what you read in tabloids, the music of Ron Wood has always been a cause for celebration. When he exited from The Faces, he began a brief foray into sessions work as well as crafting brilliant solo albums (I've Got My Own Album To Do, Now Look) before joining one of the great Rock bands of all time, The Rolling Stones.

I've Got My Own Album To Do (1974) was a mix of bluesy Rock and R&B that saw assistance by Keith Richards. It delivered superb tracks like "I Can Feel The Fire," and "Crotch Music." The album started what would be a small string of solo albums (likely due to the fact that he works for a high-energy band). It was followed a year later with the excellent Now Look (1975), which contains the wonderfully extended "Breathe On Me" as well as the album opener, "I Got Lost When I Found You," amongst a handful of others. After this, the released albums came later and later. Gimme Some Neck arrived in 1979, solidiying the fact that Wood is a real deal. Of course, many of us already knew this.

Fast forward to 2010 - oh so many years later - and I Feel Like Playing arrives. And what an album it is. The opening track, "Why You Wanna Go And Do A Thing Like That For" delivers a solid reminder on just how good Ron Wood is with a track that could have been included on Now Look or I've Got My Own Album To Do from the '70s. It has a strong Kristofferson sound to it, no surprise as Kristofferson collaborated on the track.

Ron has a reggae fondness as you've heard in prior albums. It's evident on "Sweetness My Weakness" where there's reggae all over. There's a familiar grace in "I Gotta See," a tune that could have fit within the song trackings of Clapton's No Reason to Cry (1976) quite easily (Ron Wood was a sessions guitarist on the album). Wood's funky blues cover of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" is electric in all the right places. There are a few Stones-like songs ("Thing About You," 70's Stones with "I Don't Think So," later-era Stones with "100%") in here as you'd expect from a few decades of being a Stone. With that, you already know that I Feel Like Playing will be a classic in the same vein as his first two already are. This is especially true if you're a Wood fan.

Ron Wood's albums have always been recording parties with some hefty talent invited. Equally Ron Wood has always reciprocated the favor by playing on many albums, most you may not have a clue he played guitar on. (For a reference point, check out the previously mentioned AND underrated No Reason To Cry (1976) by Eric Clapton for a party that took place at Shangri La Studio, Wood in attendance.) I Feel Like Playing is no different, in craft, than those. On this new album, he has invited Kris Kristofferson, Slash, Flea, Bobby Womack (who has enjoyed a long standing relationship with Ron), Billy Gibbons, and others. Their assistance, along with the great written tracks, help to set this album apart in Ron Wood's catalog.

The actual truth is that I Feel Like Playing is as good as anything Ron Wood has recorded in the past. If you're a solid Wood fan, then this album is a perfect pick-up. In fact, it is a must-have. It is, and will be, an album that you'll go back to often. Ron Wood is at the top of his musical game.