A few bars into Limelight, the latest recording by Vancouver blues-rocker Colin James, I wrote in my notebook “a rock number that has a touch of Van Morrison . . . horn arrangement would be right at home on Tupelo Honey.” Two songs later, there’s another comparison to the Van man. Later in the disc, James performs two Van Morrison songs: ‘It Fills You Up’ and ‘Into the Mystic’.

I’m not sure what the connection is between these two musicians, but it works. So does everything else.

That opening track, ‘Better Way to Heaven’, has a terrific groove supplemented by Colin Linden playing electric slide dobro. ‘Watchin’ the River Flow’, a shuffle blues, has exuberant piano work by John Whynot. ‘When I Write the Book’, a Nick Lowe number, rocks hard with a muscular Hammond organ from Eric Webster.

’Speakeasy’ is shaped by James’s rhythm guitar work, which is not to sell short his down-and-dirty electric guitar solo. His rhythm guitar, this time performed on the acoustic instrument, lays the groundwork for ‘Weeping Willow Tree’, where the leader puts a slight echo effect on his vocal.