Inakustik
2008
After tour cancellations last summer Michael Schenker moved to England and began reuniting the original MSG. So along with Schenker we get Gary Barden on vocals, Neil Murray on bass, Simon Phillips on drums and Don Airey on keys. So they reformed and felt the need to put an album in the hopes of bringing back past glory and moving forward. This is a talented bunch although no one here has really been part of anything that spectacular or relevant in quite some time. The results are better than I expected, but this album does not fall into that rare category known as good reunion albums. There are no bad tracks here nor are there any great or even very good ones either as most of the songs range from fair to decent. It's not a matter of skill, but the major shortcoming is that everyone seems to hang back too much and no one pushes at all. I appreciate Michael Schenker not being a hot dog and trying to just be a virtuoso but this album needed someone to step forward and light that fire. Schenker riffs have some natural groove but he never tries to build any momentum. The rhythm section is solid as it should be with these two veterans towing the line, but they glide far too much. Don Airey has been one of the best keyboard players around, but his parts here are just above average. Gary Barden's vocals are in tune and all, but it sounds like he is just sitting there filling time instead of really belting it out. Of course it's tight, but that's not enough particularly considering when I think the ability is still very much in these guys. I also got the impression that when Don Airey came over on loan from Deep Purple that he swept up some their castoff songs off the floor and brought them with him to use for this project. Okay, maybe that didn't happen, but several songs sound like watered down Deep Purple. Sure this release is better than a number of reunion albums because it's decent overall. However that bit of promise on this album just makes me wished they had taken their time, really listened to what was going on and taken that extra step needed to make it special.
http://www.myspace.com/michaelschenkerhimself
Have not heard this one but sounds like it was more of a warmup album than anything else. Perhaps if they were to release another one, the results might surprise more people.
ReplyDeleteHMM-That could be. Considering the short amount of time in which Schenker assembeled this band, wrote, recorded and produced the album I would say it's quite possible they rushed this one.
ReplyDeleteI have been listening to this one a lot over the last month. I still think this is better than the last couple of MSG albums. Not their best, but far from their worst material.
ReplyDeleteRob Rockitt
Hard Rock Hideout