In one of the finest examples of a band being a rousing success out of the gates, the mid-1970’s saw the arrival of Bad Company. Signed as the first group to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song record label, there was instant pressure on the band to be a hit. And they more than met the rather high water mark set for them. Their blues based rock and roll found a home with listeners pretty much from the first time the tracks came out of stereo speakers.
Of course, when these two discs were originally released, I was more interested in Sesame Street than rock and roll. But once I got heavily into music, I had the cassette versions of each album. And being the technological fuddy duddy that I tend to be, I still have those cassettes and they are working just fine. I am loathe to replace a perfectly working copy of any album I own simply to be upgraded. But when I saw the news of the reissues, I knew I had to have them.
I’m going to review the two albums separately within this article and as it should be, we’ll start at the beginning.
Bad Company
S/T
Rhino Entertainment – 2015 (Reissue)
Originally released in 1974, this album featured what can only be viewed as a perfect amalgam of musical talent in the foursome’s lineup. You had two former members of Free in Paul Rodgers (vocals) and Simon Kirke (drums), guitarist Mick Ralphs from Mott The Hoople and former King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell.
The original track listing for this album contained just eight songs. And more than forty years later, the material has stood the test of time. As pointed out in the extensive essay in the CD booklet, 6 of the 8 songs remain in regular rotation on classic rock radio around the world.
They had instant classic rockers like “Can’t Get Enough”, “Rock Steady” and “Movin’ On”. For more atmospheric rock there was “Ready For Love” and the epic title track. The album closed with perhaps one of the finest ballads ever recorded in “Seagull”. Rodgers soul based vocals could range from silky smooth to adding an additional bit of raspiness to give his vocal performance a slightly rougher edge. When combined with the tantalizingly adroit guitar riffs from Ralphs, it made every song stand on their own while merging as a cohesive full set at the same time.
I cannot find any fault with the original album. While the songs have all been remastered they still maintain the feel they had when originally recorded. I remain as hooked on the material now as the first time I heard the album. A quick glance at the songwriting credits shows that the writing on the original disc was mainly a Rodgers/Ralphs production. Simon Kirke co-wrote “Bad Company” with Rodgers.
The reissue treatment for this album includes a ton of rare photos. The 7-page essay goes into the formation of the band up to and including the release of their debut album. While any long time fan of the band knows the story already, the inclusion of this archival story is important for any music fan that may be a newcomer to the band.
The second disc is made up of 13 songs, including 10 previously unreleased tracks. This material runs the gamut from bonus tracks and outtakes to B-sides and alternate versions of the songs. In all, six songs appear twice on the second disc. Listening to it, you can hear the earlier versions of the songs and see how the band went about crafting each song through trial and error. The booklet goes into solid detail about what each of these versions were and meant in the process of creating the finished product.
With the title track, the first alternate cut was done without Mick Ralphs as the band worked on the song’s arrangement. It also featured a subtle difference in the lyrics. I really enjoyed the two versions of “Little Miss Fortune” which was originally released as the B-side to the “Can’t Get Enough” single.
There’s even a longer version of a song called “Superstar Woman”. It was recorded in 1973 but didn’t get released until there was a Bad Company anthology release in 1999. But that was a shorter version of the full track, which is now available through this reissue.
In total, what you have here is perhaps one of the finest, most fully realized and perfected debut albums that any band anywhere has ever recorded. And the 2nd disc only enhances that final product.
Bad Company
Straight Shooter
Rhino Entertainment – 2015 (Reissue)
There was no need to worry about the dreaded sophomore slump when it came to Bad Company’s 1975 follow up record Straight Shooter.
The original track listing for this album once again contains just 8 songs. Three of them songs are considered out and out classics: “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad”, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and one of the best written be-careful-what-you-wish-for songs in “Shooting Star”. But there are also three more songs that still feature quite prominently in any discussion of the best of Bad Co.’s material. Those tracks are “Weep No More”, “Deal With The Preacher” (which features a fantastic solo from Mick Ralphs) and for my money, one of the best songs the band recorded in “Wild Fire Woman”.
The latter track is tragically or criminally overlooked. The band’s first greatest hits release was called 10 From 6. While I’m not quite sure which song I would’ve booted off of that compilation, I would’ve definitely included “Wild Fire Woman” instead.
Another glance at the songwriting credits on the original album finds Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs responsible for 6 of the songs, either on their own or collaborating with each other. The other two tracks are solo writing credits to Simon Kirke.
As for the 2nd disc, there are 14 cuts in all. The song “Easy on My Soul” makes another appearance. It was the B-side to the single release from the first album for “Movin’ On” and two alternate versions were included on that reissue’s 2nd disc. The song was originally recorded by Free. On this version, the song is slowed down from the original take and it was recorded “live in studio”.
The song “Whisky Bottle” appears twice. The first track is an early piano-based version of the song, while the second version is the actual B-side released with the “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” single. It is also the sole co-writing credit for bassist Boz Burrell from the material recorded during the time period of the first two albums. While the released version of the song is excellent, I do have to say that I found myself really enjoying the more chaotic sounding piano-based version of the track as well.
What makes this bonus disc stand out just a bit more than the first album’s is that it includes two “brand new” never before released songs. The songs, “See The Sunlight” and “All Night Long” were recorded back in 1974 but never fully completed. Or rather, they were completed but lost and/or never released. On “All Night Long”, the primary reason it might not have been released is because, as pointed out in the liner notes, the song sounded remarkably similar to the band’s “Movin’ On” track. It was almost like they were ripping themselves off. While it was smart not to release it, the Paul Rodgers written track was decent, if a bit overlong.
As for “See The Sunlight” the song ranges from slow to mid-tempo pacing. Rodgers teams with Mick Ralphs to write the song and it was a pretty decent track.
As for the rest of the songs on the bonus disc, you can hear little bits of dialogue from the band during the beginning or ending of each song as you are treated to the early origins of different classic tracks. There’s two versions of “Feel Like Making Love” including one that has a harmonica solo in place of the guitar solo. It’s an interesting change, but I found the harmonica a little out of place after listening to the final version of the song for so long. The other version included was another “live in studio” recording without using any overdubs. The guitar solo is missing here as well, but this time instead of missing it, I found that it was a nice way to hear what was “buried” under that solo from the final cut version.
Alternate versions of “Anna” and “Shooting Star” highlight different vocal performances from Paul Rodgers. Meanwhile “Weep No More” is seen in a very early version of itself with a much slower delivery. As for “Deal with the Preacher,” the song’s earliest beginning show a much lighter sound to the heavier version that made it to the final album release.
As a whole, these two albums getting the deluxe reissue treatment is a fine thing for any music lover. While long time fans of the band know the original album releases like the back of their hands, new fans of the band can marvel anew at what Bad Company had to offer right from their very start.
But everyone can get together and chart the starts of the band’s finest work with the comprehensive bonus discs. While a lot of reissues are rightly seen as money grabs, Bad Company and Straight Shooter are two of the greatest rock and roll albums ever recorded and these reissues only serve to enhance that belief. They are quite simply the best possible examples of why classic material from the past gets reissued in the present. The entirety of the package for each disc is simply the best, much like the band themselves.
