When the road ends, you have to leave it. And it’s only natural that the cover of this, Johnson’s first CD since his comeback I’m A Jockey (1995), should feature a cover with so much sky in it, and so little road. For all of its undeniable Windy City groove, the best songs on this album are awash in atmospherics that pick you up and gently carry you into the ether. This album floats like a butterfly and only occasionally stings like a bee.

Even augmented with percussion, horns, and B-3, not to mention some of Luther Allison’s last guitar work on the title track, most of the music here is a bit stale, probably tainted by the dry production, which was laid down at the unfortunately named Gimmick Studios in Paris back in 1997 (!). Nevertheless, Johnson’s fire bleeds through at times, most notably on the songs that are deviations from the shuffle formula, like the lovely lilt of “My Baby By My Side” and the reggae positivity of “The Street You Live On.”

Most of the album succumbs to a paucity of sound and ideas, however—how do they make real horns sound so fake on “Cut You Loose”? The silk is smooth, but the grit is too pretty; when Johnson’s sweetly hot guitar leads threaten to be eclipsed by the Fender Rhodes on “Everyday Of Your Life,” you know what’s up. Think of Every Road Ends Somewhere as another case of production leading and talent following.