Living Loud (2004)

What do you get when you mix members of Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Cold Chisel, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath performing 5 Black Sabbath covers and 7 new songs of their own?

You get Living Loud:

Steve Morse: Guitar (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple)
Bob Daisley: Bass (Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Black Sabbath)
Lee Kerslake: Drums (Uriah Heep)
Don Airey: Keyboard (Whitesnake, Gary Moore, Deep Purple)
Jimmy Barnes: Vocals (Cold Chisel)

The new tracks are quite enjoyable, rollicking and fun-- the Sabbath covers take some getting used to. Morse is an exceptional guitarist and puts his own stamp on these Randy Rhoads classics and make them his own. The problem comes with Barnes voice-- and I'm a huge fan of Jimmy Barnes, he's an Australian institution. I think the problem is that both Ozzy and Barnesey have distinct voices-- and their voices are so distinctly different. Barnes voices is a cocktail of equal parts Joe Cocker and Brian Johnson (of AC/DC). The more I listen to the CD the more Barnes treatment of the Sabbath covers grows on me, but it's certainly taking a lot to get used to. At first listen I wanted to throw the CD out the window because there was something about Barnes voice on THOSE songs that wasn't quite meshing in my head. It was only after I was able to open my mind and listen to the Sabbath covers as if I was listening to them for the first time that I finally started to enjoy Jimmy's treatment of the material. ***1/2 (out of 5)