Emerson, Lake & Powell ~ Emerson, Lake & Powell (aka self-titled) (album review) ... Emerson, Lake & what?

Style: prog rock, hard rock 
Label: Polydor
Year: 1986
Home: England

Members: Keith Emerson ~ keyboards
Greg Lake ~ vocals/guitars/bass
Cozy Powell ~ drums

Emerson, Lake & Powell was born when a re-union of Emerson, Lake & Palmer didn't happen due to drummer Carl Palmer's obligations with Asia ... the band, not the country. Replacement Cozy Powell at first seems like an odd choice. His reputation is largely centered not on progressive rock, but hard rocking outings with Rainbow, Brian May, Graham Bonnet, Whitesnake, Michael Schenker & later with Black Sabbath & Yngwie Malmsteen. Its easy to forget that underneath the hard rock is often some often adventurous non-straight ahead playing. While he also worked with the always limit pushing Jeff Beck, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, & Robert Plant. If Keith Emerson & Greg Lake were looking for a more '80's sound, yet not wanting to not completely push away the past, Powell had the chops to bridge both worlds. I'm honestly not a big enough ELP fan to be able to comment on how Powell compares to Palmer. While even though I've heard Palmer in all the Asia albums, I'm not a drummer & not good recognizing drum styles. I just know what works or doesn't, as in does it clutter up the music or make it groove or just pound away brainlessly. So, moving on from Powell, how is the end product in general? I don't blame Powell for this, but Emerson, Lake & Powell is clearly more '80's than '70's. The rock guitars & driving rhythms (i.e. "The Score") makes it firmly '80's, & thus very different than the Emerson, Lake & Palmer we all know. This is pretty much a distinct entity musically. Though, I will back-up & say it might not be that distinct, but I haven't heard Emerson, Lake & Palmer's '80's output. It might be exactly the same ... which is essentially, I'm going to guess, not what most people want when they turn to ELP. ELP was a proggy classical rock band unlike no other with long wandering songs. We want Brain Salad Surgery, not something that is proggy Bon Jovi or early Def Leppard. So, Emerson, Lake & Powell might be a different entity or the same, but the end result is pretty iffy whatever the context. If this is what Emerson, Lake & Palmer were doing at the time ... I'm not inspired to hear any of those albums. I would compare this album more to Asia & GTR, but not as good. The only thing that keeps it with a few toes in the '70's is the keyboards, which thankfully dominate with classic prog sounding arrangements. I was reminded of Rick Wakeman's solo outings (i.e. "Touch & Go") or the first few albums after Genesis became a trio. While Lake still has his recognizable vocals, absolutely sounding like no band in the '80's.Yet, the playing felt rambling & uninspired, & often tedious. It didn't have the proggy spark. So, I should clarify that the dominance of the keyboards gives this a '70's feel, but not the playing itself. So, put rambling playing against rock guitars & driving rhythms & this is Emerson, Lake & whoever in name only. Though, for their defense, many classic bands such as Yes were moving in this direction turning their prog into something commercial. Its not bad, but it lacks the emotional elements of the past with lots of boring flash. Instead of going through the whole album, I would recommend listening to the "The Miracle." This is a track worth putting in your playlist. Absolutely skip over the anti-war anthem "Lay Down Your Guns" and the Broadway musical wannabe "Step Aside". Or, at least, save the later for when the band includes Barry Manilow.

Michael Schenker Group (aka MSG) ~ MSG (aka self-titled) (album review) ... '70's infused rock awesomeness!

Style: hard rock
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1981
Home: London, England

Members: Michael Schenker ~ lead guitar
Gary Barden ~ vocals
Paul Raymond ~ keyboards/rhythm guitar
Chris Glen ~ bass
Cozy Powell ~ drums

Additional: Stephen Stills, Billy Nicholls ~ backing vocals

I'll also confess I've never heard anything by Schenker solo or with his group MSG, or with UFO & the Scorpions, except for his one album Assault Attack. I'm a fan of vocalist Graham Bonnet. I really like that album, yet never felt compelled to investigate Schenker further. I came across this second album from MSG & decided to take a listen. More confessions. I expected a blistering guitar onslaught that had foreshadowed '80's glam metal, or maybe something like the blistering Vinnie Vincent Invasion. My expectations were so far misplaced its not even funny. Considered a classic by fans, this is well worth seeking out. One last confession. All my reviews are written after numerous listens. I refuse to post a review before at least two complete spins. Sometimes I hear an album, but will sit on it for a few weeks before listening again. I just know I want to review it, but have other things I want to hear first. Other times I actually have an album spinning for weeks, because I don't know what to say about it. This is one of those cases. Its been at least three weeks since I've come across this album & I've spun it every few days. The reason for this is because ... its really good. Its really really good. Not just did this break all my expectations, but I can hear why folks call it a classic. Yet, I also can't put it into words, which is why I keep spinning it. It has a particular feel that I can't wrap my words around, thus I'm unable to sell the album to you in the way I feel it deserves. At this point I'm just going with what I got & you should just go & listen without delay. Its just as good as Assault Attack, though musically oranges & apples. This is way more laid back. It grooves more than attacks. It has a very '70's feeling. It pre-dates so many of the cliches of the hair metal scene. The trademarks of that sound are missing, so its a really strong melodic album of big riffs & interesting vocals, not to overstuffed, not too wild, not trying to fit a template but just making memorable songs. It has the raw feeling that came from Van Halen when they debuted, & like Ratt & Quiet Riot, while having its own feeling like those bands. I thought this might be a guitar noodling album, but absolutely not. Its not show-off, but an actual cohesive band outing. Gary Barden's vocals actually carry many of the songs & keyboards play a strong role. I really like the clean riffs & the fact this isn't in your face solos that are cluttering up the air. At times Schenker might even be under-playing. A few highlights to mention. "Ready To Rock" is the complete opposite of Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock". It's more like a guy who is putting on his clothes, combing his hair & chillin' like Fonzie. I'm kinda reminded of Montrose in its feel. He doesn't have to come on too strong, cause he knows how cool he is. "Attack Of The Mad Axeman" has a funky guitar riff that has a very '70's prog feeling. "On & On" is dominated by keyboards that go from Tony Kaye-like chords to a classical verse in something that is very proggy. The guitar takes over for an off the wall solo. It would completely be over the top if it wasn't for Cozy Powell's strong beat that allows both a keyboard dominated song & a crazy solo. Its like the keyboards are just a tease until the big surprise. This is a highlight of the album. There's also the big piano ballad "Never Trust A Stranger" that has that timeless '70's sound before power ballads became more more power than real ballad, or when Queen set the bar of what makes up a ballad. Another highlight of the album.

Cinderella ~ Long Cold Winter (album review) ... Puttin' on the blues swagger to stay warm!

Style: hard rock, hair metal, blues-rock
Label: Mercury
Year: 1988
Home: n/a

Members: Tom Keifer ~ vocals/guitars/harmonica
Jeff LaBar ~ guitar
Eric Brittingham ~ bass/b. vocals

Additional: Jay Levin - steel guitar
Cozy Powell, Denny Carmassi - drums
Rick Criniti, Kurt Shore, John Webster - keyboards
Paulinho Da Costa - percussion

I always think of Cinderella as a glam outfit, due to seeing them on MTV when I was young. Yet, their second & most commercially successful album actually saw them move away from their glam roots to being a bluesy rock band. For comparison I'd cite Tesla, '70's Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, AC/DC. Maybe the best view of them would be a less melodic Aerosmith. This album thus ook me by surprise. I was so expecting something bland, but got some cool rock'n'roll swagger. I'll totally take it over what I thought I was getting. This album spun out the hit "Don't Know What You've Got (Till It's Gone)", the typical '80's power ballad which made me mis-characterize the band ... to their detriment. Its enjoyable, but doesn't really not stand up to the bluesy lesser known songs on the album, such as "Gypsy Road", the Aerosmith-esque "Second Wind" & "If You Don't Like It". These songs, & others, have guts & sound less like every other '80's band. Its so great hearing a band really doing something different, really breaking the mold, really having a unique personality that draws from some different sources. Yet, Cinderella falters, making this not the great album it could be, but just a really good blues-rock album where I want to keep them on my radar to see where they go next. Too many songs never seem to take off. Right when I wanted them to hit a climax they instead fade out. Its like the band was hesitate to experiment too much & stray too far from home. I also feel like the vocals are the glue that holds so many songs together ... but only just so much. I found the emphasis was often too much on Tom Keifer's vocals, while the music just wasn't supporting him with great melodies to weave around & bounce off of. Tom's singing on "If You Don't Like It" would make Stephen Tyler proud, but the music doesn't rise to the same level of excitement, so he's pulling a dead horse. Thus, Tom sounds like a man singing for his life on the verge of drowning. Don't believe me? Hum some of the guitar parts of the album. Not the vocals melodies, but the guitar melodies. Doubt you can, or you won't get far. You won't find many of them & they won't stick with you. Its just a wall of chords weighing down the album. On some level I loved hearing this, but on another level I can't help but think what it could have been. I'd love to have the band re-issue the album, or re-record it, but call me in as a producer. We'd push the blues button even harder. Still rock, but get dirtier. Groove more. Slow it down. Speed it up, even. Pump up the guitar solos. Maybe bring in some guests like Joe Bonnamasso or some blues guy to rip over the foundation they've laid. Take a listen to "Gyspy Road" & ask yourself how cool this would be with a smokin' blues solo. The slide solo on the closer "Take Me Back" sorta goes there, but comes too late in the game. There's such potential here, but the band either doesn't have the skills to go there, nor were they willing to do something that was drastically different than their peers, or maybe they just didn't hear the magic they were making. Its too bad. There's makings of something great here. So great that I'm curious about their next album that supposedly developed along this same formula. This might be more commercially successful, but if they push the blues some more that might be the musically superior album. I look forward to hearing it. This is a good enough album so I'm interested in joining the ride long-term. There is one more track needing mention. "Coming Home" is sang by Tom in his real voice. Its so different its shocking. While the track feels out of place both due to his vocals & the acoustic instrumentation. But, its out of place cause its the most interesting track on the album & a highlight. It throws out all the '80' hard rock pay-by-numbers output & just goes to great new places, new places I wish more of the songs had more gone. I was left thinking: This is unique, this speaks personality, this brings together the best of the band, & I want to hear this sound on their next album. The song even builds up in a climax none of the others have & has the best guitar solo. Wow, what happened to this album that we went from gritty early Aerosmith to derivative glammy "Don't Know What You've Got" to this fascinating bluesy beast? So, hint, hint, re-issue ..... e-mail me & let's talk. I'll work for cheap, cause when you hear something almost there you want to help it get over the hill. I originally wrote this blog over a month ago, but today the news went out that their guitarist Jeff LeBar passed away, so I decided in his honor to share this now. 

Whitesnake ~ Greatest Hits (hits comp) (album review) ... Can't stop this snake from biting!

Style: hard rock
Label: Geffen
Year: 1994
Home: n/a

Members: David Coverdale ~ vocals
Mel Galley, John Sykes ~ guitar/b. vocals
Micky Moody, Dann Huff ~ guitar
Rudy Sarzo, Neil Murray ~ bass
Tommy Aldridge, Aynsley Dunbar, Cozy Powell, Denny Carmassi ~ drums
Claude Gaudette, Jon Lord, Don Airey, Bill Cuomo, Alan Pasqua, David Rosenthal ~ keyboards
Tommy Funderburk, The Fabulosa Brothers, Richard Page, The Big 'Eads ~ b. vocals

Guests: Steve Vai ~ guitar
Glenn Hughes ~ b. vocals

There are numerous albums in the Whitesnake catalog that are great purchases but their Greatest Hits is a great starting point & for many might even be all that's ever needed. This collection lives up to its name with all the MTV certified hits until 1994, plus unreleased mixes and recordings that never made it to an album. The one problem is that it's a hits collection not a career retrospective. In the mid-70's singer David Coverdale formed the White Snake Band that toured two albums before the name was combined into a single word. Under the new name Whitesnake formally debuted in 1978 & included Coverdale's former bandmate from Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord. This early line-up was more blues & progressive covering B.B. King & Bobby "Blue" Bland songs. After a break Coverdale reformed the line-up in 1982 with the sound moving more towards the hard rock that was dominating the scene. They'd get their first hit with "Here I Go Again", setting the tone for what would follow with hard rock sex-laced power ballads to find their biggest success with the creation of MTV & the dominance of lots of sexy models along with Coverdale's own Robert Plant-like good looks. The band would go through regular line-up changes with Whitesnake eventually becoming Coverdale's own personal set of rotating chairs, though the sound would largely remain the same to the present day. Whitesnake has always featured some great musicians who have been greatly responsible for making the band into what it was, but they were never able to share the spotlight, thus, outside of diehard fans, for all intensive purposes David Coverdale is Whitesnake. If you like one you'll probably like the other. After 1989's Slip Of The Tongue the hits stopped, the recording slowed down with only three studio albums through 2011, Coverdale did a solo album ... basically the same sound but less flashy & more ballady but where he cut his hair short & like other musicians who did the same found little commercial success ... joined with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin for the quasi-successful Coverdale/Page & basically tried to stay alive in a music scene that turned its back on 80's hard rock. The thing about Coverdale is that he's largely never varied the Whitesnake sound after 1982. One might even call the post-1982 Whitesnake a different band than earlier outings. It's also the hit making band & pretty much all that's featured on this album. Though there is some unreleased tracks from the Jon Lord line-up this is primarily a look at the later hard rock era. This is good in the sense that if you like that era you'll like the whole album as there's a uniformity to the music and not disjointed as some compilations are, but if you want to hear the diversity of Coverdale that's largely not going to happen. Some of the unknown tracks are clearly not hits, so you will get both highs & lows, if that matters & if anything just reflects the fact that for certified greatest hits Whitesnake basically has few. If you don't like Whitesnake with its Robert Plant-esque vocalist but with a darker rasp ... doing the music many of us wish Robert Plant had done ... you probably won't be turned on to them as you might with a career retrospective. There's other compilations that are a more authoritative though the intense career boxset has yet to be released, but Greatest Hits is the most easy to find.

Glenn Tipton ~ Baptizm Of Fire (album review) ... Rising in flames!

  Style: heavy metal, speed metal
Label: Warner Music
Year: 1997
Home: England

Members: Glenn Tipton ~ lead vocals/guitar/bass

Guests: Rob Trujillo, C.J. de Villar, Neil Murray, Billy Sheehan, John Entwistle ~ bass
Rick Tipton, Brooks Wackerman, Shannon Larkin, Cozy Powell ~ drums
Don Airey ~ keyboards
Whitfield Crane ~ backing vocals 

  Perhaps it’s ironic that singer Rob Halford’s solo effort Halford rocked with greater venom than much of his coveted Judas Priest output … but what does it mean when the same thing can be said for Priest guitarist Tipton’s first solo outing? This album is what I consider to be a lost-in-the-shuffle could-be-classic, particularly when a decade later hasn't diminished the joy of this music. Recorded between 1994 & 1996 Tipton is not a prolific solo. But, when he records he aims high & brings in the best. His guest roster includes members of The Who, Metallica, Mr. Big, Ozzy's band, Bad Religion, Godsmack, Whitesnake & even Ugly Kid Joe. Tipton has friends in the business, calls them in & gives them something to chew on & spit out. Not content just with some outstanding songwriting & guitar flinging, Tipton also sings with a shockingly great voice that might vaguely be compared to Zack Wylde & might might have landed him an alternative main instrument if history had been different. This album has quite a range of musical diversity, reflective of the timespan it was written & recorded, so there's something in here whatever your tastes, yet always settling in the metal camp Tipton is known for. A must addition to any collection.

(originally written for the Roman Midnight Music newsletter Issue 1, Summer 2009, expanded for blog)