Richie Kotzen - Get Up
Richie Kotzen's career spans from joining Poison at the age of twenty and recording "Native Tongue" to playing fusion with Vertu and joining Mr. Big on their last album "Actual Size". In between Richie Kotzen released solo albums in various genres - ranging from Rock, soul and Blues.

Last year Richie Kotzen released the brilliant, but bumpy "Change" and quoting from my review of "Change";

" Overall this is a pretty good album, which keeps getting better. Because of the diverse styles, it took a while to tolerance the whole album. At the same time, the lack of consistency is also the album's weakness..

Next time I would love to hear a full album with songs rooted in the modern Rock style that characterized the first 4 songs. I can only imagine what a strong album that would have been. "

Guess what! Richie took my advice (yeah, I wish) and really nailed it this time with a consistent album rooted in guitar based rock with a touch of Blues. Richie Kotzen's new album "Get Up" contains no fillers, but 11 great songs.

Credit to Richie because he focuses on songwriting instead of long guitar solos. The album opener Losing My Mind has a great solo, it doesn't steal the spotlight but is fully integrated in the song. The melody is always the most important - like on the catchy Such a Shame, which immediately became a favorite.

Fantasy stands out with its fantastic drive. The lyrics dealing with love and lust is in contrast to the hard rocking beat of the song, which should get every hard-rocker up from the easy chair.

Richie really shows maturity in his songwriting. He also adds groovy elements on So Cold and a funky groovy guitar on the melodic masterpiece Still.

The album contains three ballads Remember, Special and Made for Tonight, where the last-mentioned again underlines Kotzen's skills as songwriter craftsman. Made for Tonight is amazing and has Richie's best vocal performance on "Get Up". Overall Richie's singing has improved tremendously and his vocals really sound powerful on this release. His voice is unique caused by his very special tone, which provides flavor to his voice.

Overall "Get Up" is everything I wished for since the album is true and consistent to the melodic hard rock style. The only departure from that style is the mediocre ballad Special, which has an easy listening feel to it. My only objection is the drum sound, which sometimes sounds a bit thin and machine alike.

Overall the album flows perfectly and is packed with straightforward, very melodic Hard Rocking songs. Richie seems very comfortable with this tuneful style and "Get Up" is permeated with the joy of playing. Richie's thick guitar tone complements his bluesy vocal and almost all songs on "Get Up" have "hit singles" labeled on them - so "Get Up" and run down to the record store to purchase the album.

Written by Michael
Friday, September 10, 2004
Show all reviews by Michael

Ratings

Michael: 8/10

Members: No members have rated this album yet.


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RevelationZ Comments


Comment by Steve Mason (Anonymous) - Tuesday, September 14, 2004
nice review there Michael, can't wait to hear that album. Though I haven't read any of your other reviews on Richie, I'd agree with you most of the way about his previous work, and how he's matured.

Also, nice to see that there are other people than just me in Denmark that enjoy the diversity of Mr. Kotzen.

All the best,
Steve


Comment by vivian-from-China (Anonymous) - Friday, March 11, 2005
hey, Richie is cool. he really really rocks.I like him and his music so much.and he could be one of the best guitar player in the word. he is almost perfect.I bought this album this week:)I love it! and when I was at home the last winnter, I used to watch his live DVD and then practised playing my guitar.watching how he playing can encourage me like that~~~in a word, "get up" is such a album that you can't be wrong.


Comment by Rick Johnson (Anonymous) - Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Best album since 1994's Mother Heads Family Reunion! Although in my mind Richie can do no wrong, this album is just STRONGER! The Rockers cook, the balleads make you want to cry... R&B roots fused perfectly with the Rock and timely guitar shredding make this the best album of 2004!


Comment by jupi (Anonymous) - Saturday, February 17, 2007
umm... why is blame on me have this weird static noise at the 41st second?! damn did they bring me a fucked cd!?

but anyway the cd was awesome!











Review by Michael
None

Released by
Frontiers Records - 2004

Tracklisting
01 - Losing My Mind
02 - Fantasy
03 - Remember
04- Get Up
05 - So Cold
06 - Such A Shame
07 - Made For Tonight
08 - Still
09 - Never Be The Shame
10 - Special
11 - Blame On Me

Supplied by Atenzia


Style
Melodic Hard Rock

Related links
Visit the band page

Richie Kotzen - Official Website

Other articles
Change - (Michael)

Acoustic Cuts - (Michael)

Into the Black - (Michael)

Return of Mother Head´s Family Reunion - (Michael)

Peace Sign - (Michael)



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