Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Glenn HUGHES: "Resonate"



RATING: RRRR

LABEL: FRONTIERS

REVIEW BY: ALAN HOLLOWAY

It's been eight years since Glenn Hughes brought us the wonderfully titled 'First Underground Nuclear Kitchen', and in the meantime has kept me entertained with his Black Country Communion and California Breed work. The man has a ludicrous back catalogue, some of which I love and some of which I would gladly lock in Room 101 for eternity. Eclectic is a word that certainly covers Hughes, and it's always with trepidation that I sit through the first spin of an album by him.

Straight off the bat, 'Resonate' promises to be the sort of album that will delight fans of Hughes that enjoy it when he belts out a rocker or two. 'Heavy' does just what it says on the tin, coming over not a million miles away from Dio at his solo peak. Pounding drums, squealing guitars and Hughes on vocal overdrive, it certainly made me sit up and get excited for the rest of the album. 'My Town' follows, and doesn't disappoint, another head shaker with great melody and a huge guitar sound, complemented (as are most of the tracks) by some delicious old school keyboard. The album only slows down eight tracks in with the ballad 'When I Fall', which is followed by the more funky 'Landmines'. Both tracks are okay, but it's when the amps are turned up to eleven that 'Resonate' really, um, resonated with me.

Fans of Hughes' BCC work will get a real kick out of 'Resonate', and it goes without saying that long time fans will find plenty to shout about as well. As a fair weather fan of the man I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing, and have had the album on heavy rotation since it was released at the tail end of last year. You can't keep a good man down, it seems, and Glenn Hughes is still happy to give us more songs in the key of rock, bless him.

Official Site

No comments:

Post a Comment