Black Country Communion - Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa,
Derek Sherinian and Jason Bonham each have a lengthy pedigree that encompasses Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple,
Black Sabbath and Dream Theater. These are four immense talents, with four immense egos.
The trick was bringing in Kevin (Caveman) Shirley to shape and sharpen the supergroup's collective sound. The result is nothing short of staggering.
Anyone with a sense of the gritty, grimy industrial history of 19
th century England will understand the Black Country reference here. At that juncture in time, the blues was being born 4000 miles away, so spiritually at least, there's a clear connection.
Classic Blues Rock? Yes, and then some.
Even before they came together as a band, each member contributed immensely - in one way or another - to the oeuvre.
Hughes and Bonamassa have contributed the bulk of the songs and like Hughes, Bonamassa's solo work illustrates the fact that as a boy he was steeped in the Blues Rock recordings of Clapton, Raitt and Ray Vaughn.
That bleeds its way, loud and clear, into the visceral, hard rock sound of BCC.
The sleek, economically melodic '
One Last Soul' and '
The Great Divide' will be a pleasant, energising surprise for rock fans and indeed, soul fans, with Hughes aiming to recapture lost ground. Further on, on songs like '
Down Again' and
'No Time' the band excavate a rich, freshly exposed vein of oily blues rock.
There's a real "born again" nature to much of this stuff. Indeed, on '
Down Again', Hughes's confessional lyrics, 'My caravan has gone' and 'I have walked in the wasteland' to 'I Gotta a brand new thing' and 'I'm gonna cure my ill', convey sentiments that couldn't be clearer.
There's plenty of notable tracks, Bonamassa cranks up some thick cut Hendrix rifferama on '
Beggarman', and '
The Revolution In Me' is simply a great hard song, powerful, pounding, intricately constructed; a wonderful ensemble piece, reminiscent of Traffic and Free.
That said, the heavy rocking, eight and a half minute epic,
'Song Of Yesterday' towers above everything else here. If ever there was a salute to the genre's classic rock heyday, then this aptly titled magnum opus is it.
Such a marriage of talents was always bound to attract attention, but where in the past similar combinations have been found wanting, this one delivers.
Written by
Brian Thursday, October 21, 2010
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