As a means to catch up on a number of 2015 calendar year CD releases I have waiting to be heard for the first time, I’ve decided to package those “leftover” discs into a couple of smaller articles. Directly below, you can read what I had to say about the solo debut from Ann Wilson, the return of Circle II Circle, a money grab compilation from Rhino Records, The Winery Dogs and the debut of the smoking blues combo of Delta Deep.
Delta Deep
S/T
Mailboat Records – 2015
The blues side project of Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen gets things off to a rousing start on their debut album with some ripping guitar riffs and a rocking pace in the song “Bang The Lid”. When you factor in the serious vocal chops of singer Debbi Blackwell-Cook, listeners will find themselves glued to their listening devices for every bit of blues soaked rock ‘n’ roll that Delta Deep has to offer
Though Collen’s guitar work is fantastic and the rhythm section of bassist Robert Deleo and drummer Forrest Robinson provide a rock solid foundation while shining themselves, it is Blackwell-Cook who is of particular revelation here. She can sing full-throated high energy tracks like “Feelit” and “Burnt Sally”, but then turn around evoke a late night in a smoke filled nightclub with the slow and easy atmospheric number “Whisky”. There’s a nice rough edge to her performance on the crushing “Down In The Delta” and the cover of Ike and Tina Turner’s “Black Coffee”
More impressive than that is her work on songs where she shares the lead vocal role. She sings with a strong backing performance on “Treat Her Like Candy” with bandmate Forrest Robinson. And she more than holds her own while singing with David Coverdale on the Judy Clay/William Bell cover “Private Number”. There’s a cover of the Deep Purple classic “Mistreated” to close out the album that features Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliot, but Blackwell-Cook makes the song her own, actually outshining Elliott.
Despite that, I think the two best performances from the band as a whole are the songs “Miss Me” and “Shuffle Sweet”. The former is just a balls out smoking cut while the latter burns with a barely contained energy that ended up making it my favorite song on the track listing.
All in all, this is a fantastic album and one that I hope leads to more music from the band.
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
The Winery Dogs
Hot Streak
Loud and Proud Records – 2015
“Oblivion”, the opening cut from the band’s second album, explodes from your speakers with a crushing, frenetic pace. It shows the band in full on attack mode and it is a truly fantastic song.
Unfortunately, for most of the album, the material seems to meander aimlessly across the musical map. The best description I could come up with while listening to the large middle portion of Hot Streak was that it was quite interesting musically but lyrically rather bland. Given that guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen wrote all the lyrics, I was very disappointed to not find myself enjoying what he was singing about in songs like “Captain Love”, “Empire” and “The Bridge.” Another down note for me were the vocal stylistic choices on a couple of tracks. I really enjoy the rough and ready vocal presentation that Kotzen has. When that is missing from a song, it is quite noticeable. Worse yet is when the vocals are cleaned up and smoothed out such as the song “Ghost Town”.
While bassist Billy Sheehan’s presence is noticeable in all the tracks, I did specifically enjoy the solid presentation of his work on the song “How Long”.
As much as I was not feeling “it” for most of the album, the band did a fine job of salvaging the disc with a closing trio of songs that were just out of this world. “Devil You Know” and “The Lamb” are two superb rockers with the former track being a disc highlight all on its own. Sandwiched in between those two cuts is the song “Think It Over”. The slow burning song finds the band’s individual talents effortlessly blending to create a perfect classic rock sound reminiscent of the best hard rock bands of the 1970’s.
Overall, the disc is good but I thought it could’ve been a lot better with stronger material – at least lyrically – comprising the middle of the track listing.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The Ann Wilson Thing!
#1
Rounder Records – 2015
http://www.theannwilsonthing.com
While Ann Wilson has released a number of albums as the lead singer of the legendary group Heart, this 4 song EP is her debut solo release. Given that it is simply titled #1, it is fair to believe that this will become a semi-regular thing for the artist
But for me, I have to hope that any future solo release will come with a better track listing…Or perhaps not the track listing but the performance of the material instead. Because on this first offering, Wilson (along with musical cohort Craig Bartok) has 3 cover songs (one a live cut) and 1 newly written track. This wouldn’t be a bad thing, except two of the covers come so buried in studio magic that it wipes away the natural power of Wilson’s vocals.
While the very different take on Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” has a heavy percussive sound to it, the vocals have far too much technology added to them. My first reaction to hearing the vocals was to wonder what the hell Wilson was doing to allow her singing to be so sidelined as it is in this song. And somehow, on Ray Charles’ “Danger Zone,” the over production choices made in studio are only worsened. There is such an awful effect on the vocal track that the song is simply horrible.
Okay, not everything here is bad, because I did like the live version of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way” that featured Ann’s sister and Heart bandmate, Nancy Wilson, as a guest on both backing vocals and guitar. It is a slow to mid-tempo type of song but Ann’s voice is not restrained in this live setting.
Craig Bartok played guitar on three of the album’s cuts, co-wrote the original track “Fool No More” and mixed the album, so he is as heavily invested in the album’s success. Together on “Fool No More,” both he and Wilson turn out a decent, if rather plodding, turn. The song isn’t likely to make anyone’s all-time favorite Ann Wilson tracks but it is pretty good and helps salvage the EP from being a total loss.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Circle II Circle
Reign of Darkness
earMUSIC – 2015
I’ve loved the vocals of Circle II Circle singer Zak Stevens since the time he was fronting one of my all-time favorite metal bands, Savatage. When he left that band and struck out on his own with Circle II Circle, I had high hopes for him and the band. While I did enjoy their debut album Watching in Silence, the material they’ve released since then has never really struck me as overly engaging
While never bad and always solidly put together, there just has never been that “it factor” in their music to raise them above the fray, at least in my mind. OnReign of Darkness, the majority of the songs find a faster-paced gear and hit it with gusto. Unfortunately, there were only a couple songs that managed to stick in my mind at all. The track “Untold Dreams” has a superb set of lyrics and I liked the vocal performance from Stevens. I also enjoyed “Sinister Love.”
The album closes with “Solitary Rain” which starts out slow; a ballad for all intents and purposes. But as the song winds onward, it aims for a more musically rocking and epic sound. The song has a decent run through, but by that point, I had really started losing interest in the album. It pains me that I don’t seem to connect with this band more, because I think Stevens is a fantastic singer. But in order to re-engage my interest, they’re going to have to come up with far more interesting music.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Bad Company
Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy: The Very Best of Bad Company
Rhino Entertainment – 2015
If you read my review of the re-issued editions of the first two Bad Company albums, you’ll know I’m not against old material being re-released provided there is something else for the listener to grab onto other than the material they likely already own in the first place. Simply putting out old product with nothing new to enhance the release is just a cynical money grab. I loved the reissues of the first two albums and that is why I don’t understand why Rhino Entertainment felt compelled to release this greatest hits compilation as a companion piece to them., musically speaking the album is jam packed with classic hits and some under-appreciated gems. And yes, the tracks have been given the re-master treatment for 2015. There are also alternate versions of “Easy on My Soul” and “See The Sunlight” that differ from what was on the two album reissues.
If I was grading simply on the music, this would be yet another 5 star review. But with a number of greatest hits packages available for the band (not to mention the original albums themselves), simply re-mastering the classic tracks and tossing on a couple of alternate tracks, this release comes off about as crass as it could possibly be imagined. There simply is no need for this particular compilation to exist.
Rating: Music – 5 stars Necessity: Zero stars
