Two cracking rereleases from one of the UK's least publicized rock labels, Voiceprint.
Releasing the brand new
Charlie album, '
Kitchens Of Distinction' recently was something of a coup, as the label specializes primarily in reissues.
Graham Bonnet's career is a prime example of longevity in the fickle world of rock music.
From ambitious but faltering beginnings with Marbles and their Bee Gees' penned 1968 hit '
Only One Woman', through stints with Rainbow,
Alcatrazz, MSG and Impelliteri, Bonnet has proved himself to be a durable, and indeed enduring rock vocalist par excellence.
To have survived in the business for over 40 years takes tenacity, persistence and stamina. But to have gone that huge step further, to have been successful, takes a damn sight more . . . a massive amount of talent, and drive, and the most elusive of all, luck.
'
Underground' and '
The Day I Went Mad' were Bonnet's fourth and fifth solo albums.
The songs on both are mainly written by Bonnet's second wife, Jo Eime, either singularly or in collaboration with ex Alacatrazz colleague, Danny Johnson, who also plays geetar.
'Underground', produced by Pat Regan and Kevin Valentine, borrows heavily from the art pop of the sixties', percolated through rootsy seventies' hard rock. And at times it veers off tangentially into New Wave territory - there's a definite Talking Heads' feel to '
Whiplash'.
But in the main, it's a welcome slight return to what Bonnet does best, belting out pithy rock songs or emoting earthily, especially coming after the ill considered pop direction
Alcatrazz stumbled into with third and last album,
'Dangerous Games'.
The album is undeniably heavy and at times almost buckles under the weight of production fx. The intensity can be stifling at times, but more often than not, especially on tracks like '
Breakdown' and '
The Strange', Bonnet emerges triumphant, gulping in oxygen and breathing out hard rock fire.
(6/10)
'
The Day I Went Mad' opens with the title track. Probably one of the best songs that Jo Eime has written, with a sublimely melodic, beautifully ethereal middle eight that's over all too soon, rushing into a majestic axe solo that we could have waited for a little longer.
Eime clearly sees the world through jaundiced eyes. Cynicism or realism? Whatever you call it, it bleeds through into many of her songs, and loads up tracks like
'Killer' and
'Flying Not Falling' with plenty of grist for Bonnet to chew up and spit out.
Elsewhere, '
Hey That's Me' and '
This Day' are sharp, edgy, hooky melodic rock songs.
All this plus guest players, Slash, Teddy Andreas, Viv Campbell, Mario Parga, Bruce Kulick and Tony Franklin.
Anyone looking for an entry point to Bonnet's solo work should start here.
(8/10)
Written by
Brian Sunday, October 18, 2009
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