Black Country Communion - Black Country (2010)

Sometimes music jumps out and grabs you on the first listen, other times it merely plants a seed that slowly grows inside you.  Black Country is an interesting mix of songs that do both. 

The opening title track, Black Country, grabs the listener and holds on tight with Glenn Hughes vocals and driving bass along with Jason Bonham's exceptional drumming leading the way for much of the song with Joe Bonamassa playing some solid guitar throughout.  This is the perfect opening track for the album as it is a force unto itself.  Hughes vocals are just as powerful as they were in his days in Deep Purple.

One Last Soul was the lead single released in mid-August.  While catchy with some killer vocals by Hughes, it's actually one of the weaker tracks on the album.  It lacks the punch and attitude of Black Country and some of the stronger tracks that come later on the album.

The Great Divide chugs along on the backbone of Hughes bass playing Bonham's drumming.  Hughes vocal wails are reminiscent of Robert Plant at his vocal peak in the seventies showing that even pushing sixty he still has a tremendous range and can still rock harder than many guys half his age.

While there are no weak tracks on the album and Black Country Communion is to 2010 what Them Crooked Vultures were to 2009 (THE supergroup of the year), easily the best tracks on the album are Song of Yesterday and Too Late For the Sun.  The latter of which features an extended jam that really shows what this band is capable of when allowed to stretch out and improvise, whereas the former is the antithesis of Too Late for the Sun, it's a beautiful and well constructed song from start to finish.  Where Too Late For the Sun has pure unbridled raw energy, Song of Yesterday has a more refined polish to it.  Joe Bonamassa shines throughout the album but Song of Yesterday is easily his best track on the album.  That's saying a lot given the overall strength of the album.

This album was recorded rather quickly, most songs were cut with as few takes as possible which gives the album a very pure energy.  There's a rawness to the material that speaks to the general spirit of classic rock and at the same time enough polish to really display the brilliant talents of each of the band members.

Black Country Communion has captured the spirit and vibe of the bands that inspired them.  If you're jonesin' for some twenty-first century classic rock this album should top your list!

Related Links
One Last Soul live

Interview with Glenn Hughes

Glenn Hughes & Joe Bonamassa performing Medusa

Black Country Communion (official site)
Glenn Hughes (official site)
Glenn Hughes (wikipedia)
Joe Bonamassa (official site)
Joe Bonamassa (wikipedia)
Jason Bonham (official site)
Jason Bonham (wikipedia)
Derek Sherinian (official site)
Dereik Sherinian (wikipedia)

Them Crooked Vultures - s/t (2009)

Every once in awhile a supergroup gets it right, Blind Faith did it in 1969 and Them Crooked Vultures have done it again over forty years later.

There's a beautiful mix of styles classic rock meets modern rock in a hard driving and thoroughly enjoyable marriage. It's not pretty, it's not supposed to be. But it's brilliant as it drives and chugs through No One Loves Me and Neither Do I and Mind Eraser. Grohl hasn't sounded as at home behind a drum kit in years. John Paul Jones shows he's still got the stuff that helped make Led Zeppelin such a force to be reckoned with in the seventies. And Josh Homme's guitar playing and vocals are the perfect fit in this jagged jigsaw puzzle of a band.

While some tracks are stronger than others, none of the songs on the album could be described as weak or filler. The quality of material merely varies between good, better, and best. There's no fair, mediocre, or poor to be found.

Run to the store buy it, download it, whatever... Get it, put on the headphones crank it to 11 and enjoy. This is an album that's best enjoyed the same way it was recorded, loud and in your face.

While other supergroups have fallen by the wayside and this one is still in its relative infancy, here's to hoping this is just the start of loud and long-lived musical partnership and that this is a collaboration which will prove far more successful and fruitful than many of the other supergroups that fell prey to the disease of "one and done."

Related Links
Them Crooked Vultures (Official Site)
Them Crooked Vultures (Amazon.com)
Them Crooked Vultures (wikipedia)
John Paul Jones (Official Site)
John Paul Jones (wikipedia)
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters Official Site)
Dave Grohl (wikipedia)
Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age Official Site)
Josh Homme (wikipedia)

Beckley Lamm Wilson - Like a Brother (2000)

Supergroups come and go with varying degrees of success. One would think that combining the vocal talents of Gerry Beckley (America), Robert Lamm (Chicago), and Carl Wilson (the Beach Boys) would be a recipe for success. And at times it is. This particular endeavour is largely hit or miss.

There aren't any songs on the album that could be considered "bad." There are a handful of good tracks mixed in with a handful that one would struggle to use superlative adjectives to describe. The best that can be said for much of this album is that it's pleasant and unoffensive.

In all fairness to Gerry, Robert, & Carl given the rigorous touring schedules of their respective bands finding the time to get together to record this album proved rather prohibitive. Add to that Carl Wilson's cancer and subsequent passing there were certainly plenty of obstacles which likely played a part in preventing this album from being far better than it actually ended up being.

That being said, there are some excellent songs on this album-- the Gerry Beckley sung Today, the Harry Nilsson cover Without Her, the wistfully nostalgic Watching the Time Go By, and the hopeful yet somber farewell from Carl Wilson to his sons: I Wish For You. Incidentally Watching the Time Go By had previously appeared on Robert Lamm's 1999 solo release, In My Head. On Robert's solo version he sings the first verse, whereas on the BL&W version, Gerry Beckley sings the first verse. Both versions are rather enjoyable and neither is really superior nor inferior to the other.

With this album being released a few years after Carl Wilson's untimely passing, the album was dedicated to his memory. Indeed, the strongest material on this album is the material that features either he or Beckley on vocals. And in light of Carl's passing his songs take on a decidedly more haunting and poignant tone, especially I Wish For You which is said to be the final song he recorded before his passing and Like a Brother which was a tribute to Carl's brother, Brian.

One is left wondering how much better this album might have been had it not been treated almost as an afterthought to Beckley, Lamm, & Wilson. If the album had been recorded over a shorter time span and all three members of the band had made a concerted effort to MAKE time to record this album rather than record and collaborate only when they were able to find the time to do so this album could and likely would have been considerably better. The talent was certainly there and the stronger material on the album does bear witness to the quality the entire album could have aspired to had it been give the time and focus it truly deserved.

Related Links

Like a Brother (wikipedia entry)

Like a Brother (Amazon.com-- mp3 download $8.99--includes 3 songs not on the original CD release!)

Gerry Beckley (wikipedia entry)

Robert Lamm (wikipedia entry)

Carl Wilson (wikipedia entry)

Gerry Beckley (official website)

Robert Lamm (official website)

OSI - Blood (2009)

Heavy metal isn’t generally known for its ambience. Listening to any of OSI’s three releases it doesn’t appear that Kevin Moore or Jim Matheos received that memo. Their latest release, Blood, is a natural progression from its two precursors. Where 2003’s self-titled debut felt a bit tentative, 2006’s Free and their latest, Blood feel decidedly more certain.

While some may describe OSI’s music as being progressive metal, perhaps ambient metal is a more fitting descriptor. While the music does certainly bear the evidence of the progressive metal roots of both Matheos (Fates Warning) and Moore (Dream Theater)—Moore’s influence provides the music with a much more ambient feel that listeners only caught sparse glimpses of on his Dream Theater material.

After providing percussion on the first two OSI releases, Mike Portnoy bowed out for the third outing—in his place Matheos and Moore tapped Porcupine Tree’s Gavin Harrison. Given Porcupine Tree’s musical proclivities, one might argue that while Portnoy may have a better pedigree, Harrison’s style is a much better fit for this band than his predecessor.

With each successive release Moore’s vocals have seemed to fit better than the one before. While Moore is a mediocre vocalist at best, his sparse vocals fit the general ambience of OSI’s music. And much like on their debut in which Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson contributed his vocals to shutdown, OSI once again knew when to invite guest vocalists to step in—Mikael Akerfeldt (of Opeth) on Stockholm and Tim Bowness on No Celebrations (only available on the 2CD Digipak version).

In addition to No Celebrations, the two disc digipak version of this release also features a cover of the late Elliot Smith’s Christian Brothers and an extended version of Terminal.

All that being said, this release isn’t for everyone—if you’re a fan of the first two OSI releases, the recent albums of Fates Warning, and Kevin Moore’s Chroma Key releases, or if you’re willing to take a chance on something a bit different than the mainstream there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this next leap in OSI’s musical evolution.

Related Links
Chroma Key Dead Air For Radios (1999)
Dream Theater Images and Words (1992)
Dream Theater Awake (1994)
OSI Free (2006)
Porcupine Tree In Absentia (2002)

The Firm (1985)

One would think that the combination of Bad Company's Paul Rodgers and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page would make for some pretty damn good music. And one would be at least partially correct.

When The Firm was on, they were firing on all cylinders, Page's guitar making an excellent complement to Rodgers vocals, Chris Slade's drumming, and Tony Franklin's bass playing.

However their music was also somewhat uneven. There are a handful of tracks on here that feature some of Paul Rodgers best vocals since Bad Company's Straight Shooter album, but on some of those tracks one is left wondering where is Jimmy Page? Reading the newspaper perhaps? Doing the NY Times crossword puzzle? When you have a guitarist the calibre of Jimmy Page in your band, isn't it best to take full advantage of his talents?

Instead, much of this album comes across as "Paul Rodgers with special guests Jimmy Page, Chris Slade, and Tony Franklin" not as one cohesive band.

That being said, being a fan of the vocal prowess of Paul Rodgers, this is some of his best work and the tracks where Page does shine-- tracks like Radioactive, Make or Break, Midnight Moonlight, Cadillac, and Free to Live-- the whole band shines. It's these tracks that make the album well worth it and show the potential this band had, had they consistently performed as a group, instead of playing like Paul Rodgers backing band.

And while Rodgers sounds pretty damn good covering The Righteous Brothers, You've Lost that Lovin Feelin' one can't help but notice how incredibly out of place the song sounds in the context of the album as a whole.

In short it's a valiant effort, well worth it for its strong tracks, but it just falls short. And any band that has Jimmy Page as a member-- well most would expect that band to actually make far more and far better use of his talents than The Firm did.

Related links
Queen with Paul Rodgers Return of the Champions (2005)
Radioactive




Satisfaction Guaranteed

OSI - Free (2006)

In 2003 OSI (Office of Strategic Influence) released their self-titled debut CD. Combining the songwriting, keyboarding, and vocals of former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore with the guitar chops and songwriting skills of Fates Warning's Jim Matheos and the impeccable time-keeping of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy this prog-rock supergroup created a new sound all their own. A kind of techno-metal combining all the best elements of all 3 of the musicians involved.

Oftentimes when a debut is succesful a band will wrest on the laurels of the success of that debut with their sophomore release-- every once in a great while instead of wresting on those laurels a band will evolve and extroplate upon the music of their debut for their follow-up. OSI falls into the latter category as they've evolved and improved upon what had been a thoroughly enjoyable debut.

Kevin Moore's vocals sound a bit more self-assured than they had on the debut and while Moore doesn't have an exceptional voice-- he does have a voice which fits perfectly within the style of music this group performs.

But the strength isn't in the individual pieces which make up this band it's in the sum of the whole. During his tenure in Dream Theater, Moore's lyrics were often the best of any of the songwriters in the band and while Dream Theater has continued to evolve musically since his departure in 1994, lyrically they've never quite matched the punch they had when Moore was in the band. Add to the mix Fates Warning's Jim Matheos and Moore's former bandmate, Mike Portnoy and the musical chemistry is quite unmistakable.

Musically some of the songs bear a passing resemblance to the material on Fates Warning's Disconnected album. Which can be attributed not only to Matheos influence but also to Kevin Moore's occassional guest spots on keyboard with Fates Warning. Moore's keyboard work is quite melodic and the chemistry between Moore's keyboard and Matheos guitar work is some of the best I've heard since the Geoffrey Downes/Steve Howe chemistry on Yes Drama album and on the first couple of Asia albums.

Much like on the debut, the last song on Free, Our Town, is a dramatic shift in gears from a techno-metal vibe to a more stripped down acoustic song. The addition of banjo and pedal steel makes for quite a stark contrast to the crunchy guitars and electronic flourishes which grace the rest of the album.

Given how busy both Matheos and Portnoy are with their respective bands, I won't hold my breath for an OSI tour, but if one were to ever happen I'd be one of the first in line for tickets.