Revered bass guitarist,
Michael Paige has played with such high profile names as Stevie Salas, Nile Rogers and Sass Jordan, but his tenure with melodic rock band , Crown Of Thorns will always loom largest on his CV.
And of course, in that band, it was Jean Beauvoir who always dominated the headlines.
But now, Paige has stepped forward, out of the frontman's shadow with his first solo release,
'It Is What It Was', recorded and produced by Paige in his own studio in Paadena, California.
The talented Paige contributes guitars, drums and keyboards, picking from a wide circle of musicians to add selective guitar and sax solos across the ten tracks.
Paige proves himself to be a singularly talented songsmith too, with a nice line in punchy lyrical ambiguities.
The album is much of a showcase for Paige, demonstrating his grasp of different musical styles, within a rock framework.
And to that end, the recording is a success
. 'The Profit' and '
Pushit' are LA Coliseum size stadium rock songs, with sweetly satisfying chord shifts that maybe needed to be a little more emphatic to truly get the adrenalin pumping.
Conversely, proving he is not a model conformist, the unashamed romanticism of
'Without My Heart' and '
This Time', alternately tracing the faultlines in relationships or celebrating new ones show that the man has more than one string to his bass, er.bow.
Where the album falters is in Paige's vocals. He is not blessed with a truly distinctive voice and this is pointed up in songs - like '
8 O'Clock' and the acoustic
'All In Vain' - where greater depth and range were required to make them work.
Arguably, good music never goes out of fashion, but nevertheless this is a brave start to a solo career, released at a time when a resurgence in the fortunes of rock music may truly be on the cards.
Written by
Brian Monday, September 27, 2010
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