I'm about a week behind, but trying to catch (and keep) up.
Michael Schenker Group Man the production is thin. Vocally, this is tantamount to the drop in quality in going from Bruce to Blaze - I’m just not finding much to love in Barden. A&D was a decent opener. The solo in Cry for the Nations just absolutely rips, and saves the song. Opening riff in Victim of Illusion is nice. Bijou was really nice ... gave me a Triumph/Emmett vibe, as they did quite a few of these kinds of interlude songs. Feels Like A Good <Aerosmith> Thing about sums it up. I dug it. Arena was excellent! Tales of Mystery was doubly excellent!! Lost Horizons was a plodder, saved by the outro.
Re Barden, Kade wrote it best .... “I'm not the biggest fan of Gary Barden's voice. He's an adequate vocalist, but for me, there' just nothing really special about his job. He's your 'meat and potatoes' hard rock singer. Gets the job done and fine to listen to, but there's no trimmings or fancy extras. “
Willing/Willing ... There wasn't a lot of discussion here - I was finished the posts before I hit Its Killing Me. Really good tune, but the first three tracks were superior, Chains being a pretty good opener, but the next two were crackers. Makin Moves was nice, that intro to Lonely Heart was gorgeous. Rest of the song couldn’t match the beauty of the opening, but it was still pretty good.
MSG ... first listen I was multitasking, and didn’t really take much of it in. 2nd try, it’s pretty enjoyable. Standouts are On and On, But I Want More (damn, dat riff and guitar work
). Holy fuck ... Looking For Love :OMG!! Outro of Sleeping Dogs was sweet (which I typed before you posting it as well!). I completely agree with your statement on Barden. He’s much easier on the ears here than the debut. Overall though, for me it’s mostly just standard B-List 70s/80s hard rock... I could spin Bad Company, Aerosmith, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Y&T, Zebra, and the like, and come away equally satisfied.
Mechanix I liked the sax lines in The Writer, and there was something very enjoyable about the minimalistic and uneventful nature of the lead riff. Something Else cover was cute enough - sticks out like a sore thumb, but it was nice. “the Bruce Springsteen of British hard rock.” Is an apt way to describe Back Into My Life. You’ll Get Love was ok, but I much more enjoyed Doing it All For You. What an open to the backside of the album!
. I’ll tell ya, I think this is Parker’s finest moment so far on the skins. I was really looking forward to Heel of a Stranger based on Stadler's writeup, but was slightly underwhelmed. Not a bad tune, but I guess I had big expectations.
Assault AttackI wasn't terribly enamoured with Bonnet on the opening track. Musically, Rock You To the Ground was a plodder, but my ears enjoyed Bonnet quite a bit more - as is often the case, the outro was fantastic, and saved the track from mediocrity. With Dancer, Bonnet is reminding me of another 80s era vocalist... whom I can't quite put my finger on - it's the raspiness in his voice (Edit... I think I figured it out - Dan McCafferty / Nazareth). Schenker is spectacular on this most excellent tune. The solo in Samurai was crackin, but the rest of the song fell flat for me. The first 20 seconds of Desert Song, I can tell this is going to be glorious - I wouldn't have even needed JJ's or Wolfking's endorsement. The rest of the album is good, I'm just not wow'd. I think I'm with everyone's comments about Bonnet being a "yeller". There's no charm in his voice or delivery. It's like he's channeling Sam Kinison (obviously before Kinison was a 'thing'). Ulcer was groovy... I like these up-beat / up-tempo, jazzy-rockin tunes from that era - Pump It Up, Easy Livin, One Fine Morning, Peace Frog ... stuff like that always scratches me where I itch. Also, I revisited the title track (now that my ears got accustomed to Bonnet), and it was much nicer than it was just 45 minutes ago. Bonnet is a bit of a trainwreck, despite the melodies being pretty good. His delivery... notsomuch.
Had to quote this one, cuz I got a legit LOL out of it "this guy makes Barden sound like Bocelli."
And then I read Gregg's post about the Dancer lyrics, and lost my shit! I got tears streaming down my cheeks. "Pours a large cuppa" I had my coffee up to my mouth, and had to refrain from taking a sip, otherwise