Willie Basse-The Money Grind

New Empire Media
2008

Bassist/vocalist Willie Basse is perhaps best known for his work in LA based Black Sheep back in the 1980's. The group at times included the likes of Slash, Paul Gilbert, James Kottak and Randy Castillo. That's an impressive alumni list as all of those members went on to bigger acts at some point. This is Basse's first solo release in eight long years. This release certainly focuses on a style of metal from two decades ago as at least half of "The Money Grind" could very well have been done around 1986. The music oftentimes reminds me of KISS, Dokken, Van Halen, Britny Fox and others. His vocals are hit and miss as he handles the mid-tempo parts well, but he sounds way off key when he tries to extend his range. The music is generally decent with heavy enough music and some solid production work, but there isn't much going on here that wasn't done twenty years ago. I suppose that it's fine for fans of this style, but it's certainly nothing special. I think that I was expecting more after an eight year wait and from such a veteran of the genre. There are also several tracks that really lack focus because it's almost like the band begins okay for a minute or so and then they just ramble on. The album would have been far more concise had they cut it from 14 tracks down to 10. That would have taken away the filler tracks and made it much tighter album.