Ok - Don't bash this album without having heard it or at least make an effort to hear it again before any harsh comments. This is
Kingdom Come's debut album, which unfortunately suffered from Polydor Records' marketing strategy trying to fool the consumers that this was a new
Led Zeppelin. Polydor send out white label promos of the single
Get it On out to American radio with no info. A lot of people thought this was a
Led Zeppelin reunion and when the album came out everyone realized it was the unknown band
Kingdom Come and even though the album got lots of attention the strategy backfired with press and other musicians calling
Kingdom Come copycats.
Of course I am not gonna deny the
Led Zeppelin resemblance. Especially in Lenny
Wolf's voice - but in my book it is not so bad to sound like Robert Plant.
Get it On is structured around a riff very similar to
Led Zeppelin's
Kashmir and it has emotions very similar to Zeppelin. However, I think that it is among the weakest tracks on "
Kingdom Come". The acoustic
Lovin' You builds on Celtic influences ala
Led Zeppelin III - the arrangement is good and bombastic.
The music is Heavy Rock founded on 70's Rock bands and not just
Led Zeppelin. The record is quite diversified with guitar, bass and drums providing the basics for Lenny
Wolf expressive voice. James Kottak's potent and thunderous drumming provides the album with a very solid foundation.
Kingdom Come actually sounds best when they play energetic and straightforward riff based melodic rock. The best example of that straightforward formula is album opener
Living out of Touch, which is driven by an irresistible bouncing riff. It has a great emotion by the use of string sounding keys. On the excellent
Pushin' Hard Wolf sounds sharp and he hits some high notes. The aforementioned rockers are along with the melodic riff driven
Now Forever After and
Shout it Out the albums founding stone and what makes this a great album.
Hideaway and
The Shuffle are a bit anonymous on the album. The absolute stand out track is
What Love Can Be, which is the album's masterpiece. It's a beautiful, grandiose and timeless ballad drenched with emotion, soulful vocals and great playing from the guitar duo Danny Stag and Rick Steier.
This is a re-mastered package containing all original tracks, sleevenotes by Malcolm Dome and the 12 inch promo version of
Get It On - originally only available on the promo white label records at the time of release. The production is done by Bob Rock and he provided the album with lots of muscles which makes it sound pompous even today.
Written by
Michael Sunday, March 6, 2005
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