special introductory paragraph!

Bad Company

Straight Shooter

Run With The Pack

Burnin' Sky

Desolation Angels

Rough Diamonds

10 From 6

Fame And Fortune

Dangerous Age

Holy Water

Here Comes Trouble

Company Of Strangers

Stories Told & Untold

In Concert: Merchants Of Cool

* Bad Company - Swan Song 1974. *

The hits? "Can't Get Enough," "Rock Steady," "Ready For Love," "Bad Company," and "Movin' On," dark and light, dumb and dumber, and they all, every one, make you wanna whip your penis out and shake it around like a man would. Plus, they show their tender sensitive side with the two should-have-been-hits "Seagull" and "Don't Let Me Down." And yeah, "The Way I Choose" kinda sucks, but still - a TEN, goddammit, a TEN. An essential '70s pre-punk document.

Reader Comments

dswalen@concentric.net (Doug Swalen)
A 10 for this? You gotta be kidding me! Bad Company NEVER put out a record deserving of a 10 and this is no exception. I heard this album for the first time all the way through a couple of months ago. Actually I was forced to sit through it by two women whom I was going on a Road Trip with. For whatever the reason we got lost in the Sierras and missed our destination by 20 miles and had to head home. I blame the CD.

Sarcasm aside, this record is mostly 70's fluff. If you give this album a 10 then you have to give Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album a 10 as well because it's practically the same crap. And I know you detest Skynyrd.

Baiting incendiary commentary aside, the hits, like Boston and Foreigner's "hits", are really inexplicable to me. The title track is pretty cool but "Can't Get Enough"? Come on! This album sounds like a recycling of The Faces with Paul Rodgers subing for Rod Stewart!

I don't get the "70's pre-punk document" comment at all. The album was released in 74, the year the Ramones started. And MC5, Iggy And The Stooges, David Bowie (as Ziggy Stardust) and Alice Cooper had already set the pre-punk era on fire. This album has no fire! This album has no speed! To somehow equate this as a pre-punk document boggles the mind, especially coming from a guy who is into punk in as big a way as you are.

This album only serves two purposes. To get chicks into bed and as a coaster for a drink.

I'll wear my "pansy" nametag with pride, thank you very much. And my testicles are hanging just fine and dandy. Consider yourself properly chastized!

Glenn.Wiener@entex.com
Never did simplicity sound so good. "The Way That I Choose" and "Don't Let Me Down" drag in spots. Overall, a very auspicious debut.

bodie@pconline.com
"the way i choose" kindasucks? ever bennon shrooms?

carl.hamre@revisor.leg.state.mn.us
While it's sad to see what they degenerated into, carrying a second guitarist on tour, and now with their third or fourth singer?, this is a great album. "The Way I Choose" is slow, but a good tune nonetheless. This album is only about 35 minutes long as I recall, but it would've rated an 11 if they'd have left "Can't Get Enough" off of it. It's the worst BadCo song I've ever heard.

ianmcin@istar.ca (Ian Macintyre)
Granted, the lyrics are a tad weak but "Can't Get Enough" is a kickin' tune nonetheless.

richard.ford2@virgin.net
The debut album Bad Company was a benchmark for all blues/rock albums that followed. Those who do not appreciate the brilliance of tracks like 'Can't get enough', 'Moving on' and 'Seagull' and Rodgers' outstanding vocals have my sympathy, for they truly do not know what they miss!

Dipietrodj@aol.com
I love this CD. I have a little girl and she loves Bad Company too. They were in Philadelphia in 1999 and the concert was great....

Mapboy410@aol.com
There is no Bad Company album worthy of more than a 5, nonetheless a 10!!!!!

Paulisallthat@webtv.net (Vicki Kern)
This is destined to be one of the greats especially with the great vocals of The Voice himself. If you don"t like it well this is a free country afterall, don"t listen. It"s your loss and lack of good musicical taste

PeckerHeadQball@aol.com
I loved the way the song; "bad company" was recorded! any rock-n-roll with half (mind you) a mind would dig the way this was recorded! absolutly ballsie in that era! right on, get of your asses do something more!! Qball.

miavking@aol.com
Even the B Sides from this album's singles were better than alot of the stuff that came out during this period of the 70's (see Anthology for more) Unless you liked the Eagles better (which I didn't, and still dont) Mick Ralphs brought a guitar sound with him from Mott the Hoople, that can only be describes as a "Yak in heat"... a giant metallic Yak moan! I'm baffled that Boz ever played (not to mention sang LEAD) with King Crimson before joining Bad Company... maybe it was his evil twin? Anyways... my favorite albums of the 70's. Rock On!

SeanWtsn@aol.com
As debut albums go, not many rate a 10, and this is no exception. Still, give it high marks. If Boston's freshman effort (probably the best debut album in popular rock history) can be considered a 10, then BadCo's rates an 8 in my opinion. Great crunchy guitar sounds permeate all of the harder tracks and the softer tracks still have an edge due to Rodgers' bluesy, throaty vocals. Seriously, who can resist driving just a little faster when "Movin' On" comes on the car radio? The cool, eerie beginning of "Bad Company" recalls the opening notes of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Granted, "Can't Get Enough" has been overplayed to death on AOR radio for decades now, but in 1974 it was fresh, gritty and sexy. For some reason, this is an album best played at night. It's not bright and airy like Boston's first, but rather gritty and sullen. Oh, and never mind the headphones. No studio tricks on this record. Just straight forward, balls-out bluesy rock. I dare you to hate it.

ddickson@rice.edu
Come now, Doug Swalen. Of COURSE it's a pre-punk document. It's a DOCUMENT, it's made by a buncha talentless PUNKS, and it's PRE.

Tty awesome, that is!!

No seriously, it's pre.

Viously owned by my sophomore roommate!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH *SPLASH* (*Prindle tosses me into Wannabe Prindle Pond*)

Okay, okay. I give this piece o' machoness an 8 and a half. 'Cause strangely enough, most of the songs are a-ight. Not particularly awesome, save "Movin' On." Jus' a-ight. "Don't Let Me Down" and "The Way I Choose" are bodacious, too. The only thing on the album that is not rad is the closer, "Seagull"--I don't know why so many people like it. It seems to lack depth to me. Just a flat, boring, acoustic guitar exercise. And that's weird, 'cause normally I defend ballads that everyone else hates. Not t'day, junior!!

And to quote the next review, avoid the rest of their catalog.

(*several months later*)

Oh but Doug Swalen WAS right about one thing Mark. Lynyrd Skynyrd's debut IS a 10. A definite 10. You've heard at least five of its songs, but it's still gold. But it is definitely NOT the same crap as Bad Company. It's actually a lot more intricate, precise, and all that skilled hoo-hah.

Although personally I think you would hate "Mississippi Kid" and "Simple Man." Goddamn fodder for Shinedown covers. Yuck.

lillycreek@me.com
I was 14 when his album came out and it was incredible to ride around in cars and drink beer and smoke pot and listen to rock and roll on the radio or from our 8-tracks! Yes it was a simple time but awesome! I am now 49 and am downloading my library onto my i-Pod and just love this album and the next three Bad Co discs. Rogers voice is deep and powerful and the tunes really move me to this day. I feel sorry for those unable to get it with Bad Co, but I don't really dig all the new crap out now. To each generation their own

Reader Comments

ftlauderdale@earthlink.net (David Aurand)
Straight Shooter is the only B.C album that I bothered to purchase. I know there are a couple of good tunes, that do/did get way too much airplay. These days, I long for those songs to replace the REMish/Grunge mush on the dial.

Glenn.Wiener@entex.com
Without a doubt one of the best album covers of all time with the dice and the Crap Tables. The inside jacket is cool as well with a back photo of the band in western apparel and a front shot of them dressed to the nines. A definite 10.......for the cover that is. As for the album........a seven is appropriate due to a slow finish.

richard.ford2@virgin.net
Worth a 10 for the title track alone.

miavking@aol.com
More is better, and with songs like "Deal With The Preacher" (which is "Cinnamon Girl" turned sideways) "Good Lovin' FGone Bad" and "Feel Like Makin' Love" you cant go wrong for 70's FM ear candy!

robchaundy@yahoo.com (Robert Chaundy)
My first Bad Company album; also my last.

Feel Like Makin' Love sounded so good on all those classic rock compilations I just had to hear it from the horse's mouth, but dobbin disappointed.

What a very crappy album, what a very crappy band. To the knacker's yard with it.

Reader Comments

Glenn.Wiener@entex.com
Run With The Pack deserves much better treatment. Some artistic growth exists here. In addition to such good rockers as "Live For The Music", "Run With The Pack", "Honey Child", and "Sweet Little Sister" you have the mysterious ballad "Fade Away", Acoustic gem "Simple Man", and the beautiful piano driven "Silver, Blue, and Gold". The version of "Youngblood" is very listenable thank you and darn good. Did you actually expect them to sound like the Coasters when doing this song?

I will admit your writing style is very funny on this and all the other Bad Company reviews.

richard.ford2@virgin.net
not their best, but still very listenable. Bad Co never claimed to write fancy stuff, just good rock. This album deserves an 8

penguin@showme.net (Billy Baltzell)
Run With the Pack is a great album that deserves at least an eight. The title track, Silver, Blue and Gold, and Love Me Somebody are magnificent. However, I believe this is the last real classic album for Bad Company.

hjek@online.no (Kenneth Hjelm)
can someone give me the lyrics to Bad Company's ( fade away ) from the album Run with the pack.

miavking@aol.com
The Yak is still there! But what's with the little plinky guitars on "Silver Blue and Gold"? Gimme loud! Oh well... still gotta love that they have Bugs Bunny on the TV set (see inside album cover).... how early was that photo shoot? I thought musicians didn't get up that early?

I'll give 'em this though: even though all these melodies sound like they were written in about two minutes, most of them are amazingly catchy. The title track, "Morning Sun," "Too Bad," "Everything I Need," "Peace Of Mind" - all disgustingly simple, but not self-parodic like on the last album. It sounds, rather, like a postmodern lo-fi college band imitating Bad Company. It's not bombastic (except for a couple of really crappy numbers); it's just a bunch of poorly-arranged songs. I like 'em! It's actually a pretty good record, though definitely not worthy of classic rock radio play. If you see it in a dollar bin, get it. It's at least an interesting, semi-unpredictable record. A cover of "Valerie, Valerah?" A seven-minute groove jam? Wow. Bad Company stretches out and tries something new. Who knows how far this'll go? Embarrassing. And the cover of "Young Blood" is unlistenable.

Reader Comments

McCay99@aol.com
I am a HUGE Paul Rodgers fan. And I'll listen to anything he does. I completely agree with your review of this album. The songs have potential, but it's sounds like they just weren't trying hard enough. The title track is obviously the highlight (the song moves!). Burnin' Sky was an example of a band that needed a vacation.

richard.ford2@virgin.net
made just before they left for the US, I suspect the album was forced out of them by the record company. Not their best and 'Master of ceremony' is acutely embarrassing. The cracks were showing. Their worst album but still a 7, because Paul Rodgers' voice alone can never be less than that!!

shelleyk@twcny.rr.com (Shelley Klukiewicz)
I beg to differ with any bad reviews of this album. Paul Rodger's sounds hot enough to melt steel on most of the songs included in this album, i.e. Burnin' Sky, Leaving You (ouch!), that's good enough for me.The other guys talents are admirable also.

Paulisallthat@webtv.net (Vicki Kern)
Richard and Shelley, you two are probably the only two intelligent writers here. As it has een said before, Paul Rodgers could sing the dictionary and have a number one best seller. He is a ten all by himself

MiaVKing@aol.com
I think it was the first album I ever bought with my own hard earned money, and while, when I lam not rivited by the simplistic rhymes and subject matter (Love, baby! Wanting it, getting it, losing it and wanting it some more, of course!) Paul Rodgers voice is still the best in rock.

The first 10 seconds in "Morning Sun" is enough to get my dead ass outta bed with a smile (important thing, when working retail, or just plain working, for that matter) and I totally disagree with "Master of Cermony". It's not bad at all... they just sound like they are sitting around a giant Hookah (sic) getting blasted and having a groovy old time.

When you are a 13 year old, who takes up the bass, because Boz looks so relaxed and cool, but switch to lead vocals, because Rodgers voice moves you (can you say Phil Lynott? I did, and still do!) what else do you need. Want deep lyrics? Listen to Elvis Costello, or the Clash. Give me "Big Dumb Rock"!!

Long live Foghat and Humble Pie for the next greatest of guilty pleasures.

SandJNovak@aol.com
Burning sky did it for me. I don't care much for the rest but that effort was epic. I will alway own that one. Paul Rodgers is still very cool.

Maybe they wrote this one just for me. I loved it and still do. It's very likely I have been on the same shit they were on. Who knows? Even still that was a long time ago and I still love it.

GJW0721@aol.com (Glenn Wiener)
Whereas I do not own this album, I just love the title track. A little different from the usual Bad Company fare with the synthesizer effect and the thumping bass. Paul is in great voice and a super guitar solo from Mick Ralphs at the break with some super drumming as well. The Sky Is Burning may be my all time favorite song.

Heart beat is also a very bouncy song that catches my attention. Too Bad is OK in a generic sort of way. The rest I am not familiar with but I must write this to declare my praise for that awesome title track.

jdecuir@satx.rr.com (Uncle Buzz Records)
This is the first "rock'n'roll" record I ever fell asleep listening to.

Stuff like this is why the Sex Pistols HAD to happen.

At least Desolation Angels has fun/goofy disco-ish syntom fills ( BTW, they don't go "boom-boooom", they go "doi-doi-doo-doo-doooo". )

I usually try to comment only on stuff I like, but this album is so lame, I can't control myself. Paul Rogers is truly a professional vocalist who probably never hit a bum note in his life, which makes him the most boring singer in the world.

I try to look within myself and understand why it is that I own every Bad Company album, and I just can't seem to do it. Hope for some artistic growth? Irony? Boredom? Who knows.... BUT I'VE GOT 'EM AND I'M KEEPIN' 'EM!!!! DON'T EVEN TRY TO TAKE AWAY ALL MY CRAPPY BAD COMPANY ALBUMS!!!!!!!! AND HEY!!!!! HEY!!!!!!! GET YOUR COTTON-PICKIN' HANDS AWAY FROM MY NEAR-COMPLETE ELTON JOHN COLLECTION!!!!!!!! HEY!!!!!!

Reader Comments

Glenn.Wiener@entex.com
Another album that starts out strong but runs out of gas at the end. Bad Company is beginning to lose its edge.

richard.ford2@virgin.net
A very underrated album, perhaps showing that the group were starting to go their own ways, yet nevertheless, still well worth listening to. 8 out of ten.

miavking@aol.com
What is it with those "disco drums"? you know.. the ones that go "boom-boooooom!" Arghhh! ZZ Top was using them in concert around the same time ("Cheap Sunglasses") but THEY at least had the good sense to not commit them to wax in the studio (that is why the latter is a better song than "Rock & Roll Fantasy").

For the record- this album was going to be called "Vanishing Point" because the phot on the inside of the cover was from the set of a movie of the same name. They decided to change the title, because they were afraid that people might think they were breaking up. Think they knew something as far back as then, eh? This would be the last album they would tour in support of.

Reader Comments

ftlauderdale@earthlink.net (David Aurand)
I could probably put Paul Rodgers on a list of my favorite singers....even though his reputation is somewhat sullied with "The Firm" debacle. However, you are quite correct about his replacement....whatever his name is. I believe the guy who replaced him actually sang with Ted Nugent on an album where the "MotorCity Madman" decided to turn the vocals over to someone else. Thankfully, that was a one-time experience. But, like old quarterbacks, old singers seem to pop up with another group......till the drugs, booze or lack of Geritol ends their careers for good.....(Now, don't mention Brian Johnson....cause I still think he is good....not quite as good....)

winfield@biggrub.com
Man, you must have a really, really narrow taste for Rock. Hmmm, maybe I do. All I know is "Electricland" is one of my all-time favorite Bad Company tracks. It's the epitome of the kinda bluesy rock that first caught my ear with the title track of Bad Company. All the same, I think time has told that the band ran out of steam by this point. Paul Rodgers cranks, he proved that with The Firm, but he also proved it with Cut Loose, his solo, and I mean solo album!

richard.ford2@virgin.net
Now you can hear that they are going to split up! Still a 7 though.

SWC555@aol.com
Actually, at some point during the recording of this album ALL FOUR band members shouted out similtaneously "These songs blow!", and then abandoned the project, which was completed by the studio janitor and his pet monkey "Sid"

penguin@showme.net (Billy Baltzell)
I agree this isn't the best album for the group. It only has one hit on it with Electric Land, but how sweet it is.

PDigug3606@aol.com
Hey, the new Little Feat album. Oh shit, this is Bad Company..........Well, the songs on this album kind of remind me of Little Feat. Bad Little Feat mind you, but, oh, what the hell. Most of the songs have a kind of funky beat, Untie The Knot, Downhill Ryder, and Racetrack are my favorites. Electricland sounds like old Bad Company, if you like old Bad Company. Strange, I almost never hear it on the radio. It was obvious that this would be the last hurrah for the band, as Paul Rogers had already let it be known that he wanted out. Well, pick it up, its not horrible........its not great, but its not the mess that most reviewers say it is.

MiaVKing@aol.com
I had given up all hope by this time. My friends were razzing me ("Whatchya think of that new album? huh?) and it was obvious the fire was gone, and no more screaming metallic yak moans would ever come out of Mick Ralphs Les Paul again.

I nearly wept at the results of this album.

GJW0721@aol.com (Glenn Wiener)
Your tone in your review is hilarious. Anyone this last recording of all original material by the Paul Rodgers Bad Company is certainly substandard. I have not heard the entire record but of the tracks I've heard the synthesizers totally water down the raw edgy feel that made Bad Company great....or at least good.

The Ballad of the Band is probably the best track on here. Its short and sweet and pure rock n roll. Electric Land is pretty catchy in spots but their best is a far cry from the good old days. And what is the deal with this PDigug dude comparing Bad Co to Little Feat? The Featsters worst material blows this stuff away my miles.

Hey reader! Don't get any of those newer Bad Company albums (Holy Water, Fame And Fortune, Dangerous Age). Paul Rodgers is gone, and the band's talent is...uhh...non-existent at this juncture.

Reader Comments

bodie@pconline.com
You SUCK DOG SEMEN-simple basic hard hitting rock-the kind Bad Company INVENTED-can blow intricate cerebral shit out of the sky when done right

piller@fan.net (Lucy Piller)
I DO HOPE NO BAD COMPANY FANS EVER READ WHAT YOU THINK OF BAD CO

YOUR REVIEWS SUCK

thutley@e-z.net (Thomas Hutley)
Who knew Bad Company had such a passionate fan-base? For the love of Paul, let's stay in the realm of reality here people. You got yourself a 10 and a 9!! Be happy! Go produce more Bad Co. listening, talentless, sexually overdriven offspring!

Completely ignoring -- as good Mr. Prindle has also done -- Poor Business's recent history, there's STILL a good 2/3rd's of this band's "art" that even a starving Ethiopian boy would turn down. It's rancid. Putrid. Jordan cries foul. To indulge a little Homerism here, it couldn't suck worse on the suckiest day of it's life with an electrified sucking machine. On top of that, it blows.

And give Prindle an extra brownie for the excellent call on their Half of a Dozen greatest hits package. When ONE good tune gets left off a 'best of' disc, I get a tidge-bit cranky. That would be for just one song, mind you. Not, say, two or three. FIVE SONGS!!! FIVE FRIGGIN' SONGS!!! Can they honestly not tell the difference between what is good and what is truelly evil? Oh I see, the regular producer wasn't availible so they hired the Samsonite Gorilla to throw this thing together! Now THERE'S some marketing stratego for ya'! Ya' ask me, these guys belong in the Hall of SHAME for that little stunt!

So quit whining about people being hard on the Company that was Bad, because they earned it. My personal suggestion would be to pop in some Oreo Speedcookie and ride the storm out straight to Hades. Take it on the run. Babies...

boon@idirect.com (Kirk Boon)
I CAN,T BELEIVE THAT I,M READING THIS. YOU ALL SIT THERE BAD-MOUTHING B.CO.BUT WHEN YOU WANT IN YOUR FAT-ASSED WIFE,S PANTS,YOU PUT ON A BAD CO. ALBUM AND ROLL HER IN FLOUR.I,LL TELL YOU THIS,WHEN ALL YOU PISS-HEADS ARE WONDERING WHO;S ALBUM ARE WE GOING TO LISTEN TO NOW,(BECAUSE ALL YOUR NEW BANDS SUCK) I,LL STILL BE ROCKIN WITH THE REAL MUSIC. WHILE YOU SIT WITH YOUR THUMB,S UP YOUR ASSES.LONG LIVE 70,s ROCK & ROLL.

bodie@pconline.com
let's see how much money you can make with YOUR soul, slave

bevan@voicenet.com (Casey)
I haven't heard any of the Bad Company records straight through before but after hearing this greatest hits album 10 from 6 i would probably agree with you on how much they suck. Some of their hits are good but they are a dull, generic band. I just got this album for free from a music club (i wouldn't of paid regular price for this) and i listened to it; All the songs on here or midtempo and kinda boring. Hey there are some good rock hits on here but they aren't anything really special. There you go ..my review. Maybe i'd give it a 6 out of 10....though i should probably give it a 5 out of 10 for not having songs from all 6 albums like its supposed to!!

terry@launchnet.com (Terry Hagin)
their music is bad company. as soon as you hear them coming you wish they would leave asap. enough said...

richard.ford2@virgin.net
A naughty attempt by the record company to make money. Not their best tracks but pretty good nonetheless. 8 out of 10.

And the Bad Co knockers will be forced to eat their words when they see the public support for the LONG awaited original line up reunion tour in 1999. 'Rock Steady' and 'Live for the Music', people.

vomrowhaus@erols.com (Dody Miller)
As far as I am concerned they are one of the gratest bands in HISTORY!! Paul Rodgers has the smoothest most sensual voice I have ever heard, and he is also a very good songwriter.

NOSPOL@aol.com
10/10 for this CD. Bad Company is best heard on a compilation I bought this album about 3 years ago and it rocks.10 great songs. Althought I agree tha the title is definitely misleading. If tehy had put Burning Sky (the song) on here it would have been even better.

mjhaag@webtv.net (Michael Haag)
Sometimes when you see an artist whose past work you really respect get involved in a project you find inferior you just have to ask - 'what were you thinking?' Why would Don Knotts ruin the great memory of Barney Fife by appearing on 'Three's Company"? Why would Mick Ralphs turn his back on one of the most underrated groups in rock history - Mott the Hoople - to put out the pedestrian tripe of Bad Company?

mprindle@nyc.rr.com (Rich Bunnell)
I know I'm not bringing anything really new to the table by saying this, but I really don't like this band. It's nothing that no one's already said, but the thing is that my dad loves the band and thus I'm constantly tortured by constant play of the band's banal, generic debut album (if I have to hear the title track or "Movin' On" one more time I will KILL SOMEBODY) and airplay on classic rock radio. Thus, I feel I'm justified in giving my opinion on them. I accept the band as fine radio ear candy, but I really just wish that MY ears in particular didn't have to hear them. I'll give them one okay song--"Rock And Roll Fantasy," which is musically funny (as Prindle says) considering it's Bad Company trying to do some sort of rock/disco fusion, but really, the rest I can do without. And has anyone heard some of the songs on that album of Beatles/ex-Beatles bastardizations Paul Rodgers recently released? Hearing a version of "Imagine" with cheesy British synth bells in the background is not my idea of a good four minutes.

Dawgieee2@aol.com
Paul Rogers was probably the greatest rock singer ever. Don't Blame the band for finding out that simple easy to dance to and sing along with music was popular in the 70's The Bad Co.. Album was fresh for its time and the time was "a good feel" rock bands of that era were like super heroes, each had its unique power and comparing mc5 and Faces to Bad Co. would be like comparing wonder woman to batman. There is something to be appreciated in the simple but appealing style of Bad Company, and if you happened to be a musician in a band during that time, you know how much fun it was to cover them, simple nice sounding double leads and the audience danced to the tunes, what's so bad about that?

shelleyk@twcny.rr.com (Shelley Klukiewicz)
To Mark Prindle
If someone lifted you up say 50 notches, you still wouldn't be high enough to lick the mud off Paul Rodgers boots. Have a nice day!

DENISEHUSEN@aol.com
I have gotten into Bad Company, and they KICK ASS. NEVER have I ever LOVED a group like I love them. Everything they do is so damn cool...I get chills just thinking about them. I travel 4 1-/2 hours home one way, each weekend, and it just ROCKS to listen to loud BAD COMPANY music and drive FAST...That is the best way I can think of to spend my day... I lOVE BAD COMPANY... Bad Company...till the day I die..........

Paulisallthat@webtv.net (Vicki Kern)
Way to go Shelley!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any one who doesn"t see the greatness in Paul Rodgers can go out cut some tapes and thensee if theycan be named BEST ALL TIME ROCK VOCALIST!!!! IREALLY DOUBT THAT THEY CAN. The only ad Bad Compay tape "ve bought was the Live "What You Hear" ande that was becaus the aker Brian Howe was trying to sound like Paul. He needs to GET A REAL JOB!!!!!!

Lighttight@aol.com
Just want to know if anyone has anything to say about Paul Rogers replacement Brian Howe.
a non fan

shelleyk@twcny.rr.com (Shelley Klukiewicz)
Like they say, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything.

rjaros@kenton.com (Ron Jaros)
Back In the 70's & 80's, Bad Co. Kept alot of people in the time frame that Some of us were in, Relax and have a glass of beer or wine, while passing a power hitter around the room with your friends...!

Lately it appears as though everyone is more inclined to hurry up get to work forget the friends and family....

So Yes Bad Co. still reflects alot on our Past ...and Present , because we all look back just to Relax.... Rather than listen to New wave, Rap, Biogenetic crap that they refer to as music today !

jplynn@hewitt.com (Jesse Lynn)
Bad Company... first of all, the only Bad Company that exists in my mind included Paul Rodgers, Brian However/whoever was in the unfortunate position of having too little talent to properly follow up one of the best rock vocalists of all time. But, Bad Company with the real lineup was one of the coolest bands ever. This music was all simple sexy rock and roll, with heartfelt vocal emotions, that somehow still managed to capture the macho bravado of the seventies rock star. Simon Kirke's style perfectly accentuates The Boz, who lays the mood for Rodgers universal everyman lyrics, and the basic rock sound of Mick Ralphs guitar highlighted, without overshadowing, what was perhaps the most clear portrayal of Rock and Roll outside Zepplin. There have been bands with more talent, or bands with a better legacy, but there are very, very few bands with a better understanding of Rock.

Bad Company was one of my first favorite bands as a child, and to this day, everytime I hear a classic cut, make me feel a whole lot better about rock and roll.

DaliTiger@aol.com
Hi I am 25 hanging in Chicago and a vocalist and pianist for what it's worth as was my father and grandfather. I understand that you have probably erected this site to in a reverse psycholistical( the George Bush in me) way get people to take interest in music right. You get the benefit of the doubt ok buddy? What I do have to say for Bad Company is that I haven't always been familiar with their materials but, my ex- boyfriend is way into them from his youth ( by the way the new Fender twin cyber modeling amp kicks ass and is worth every penny). And maybe I am stuck in that genre but I think that Paul ( I think that that is his name) is a great vocalist and what they offered was cool. I am not the best judge of anything and likewise neither are you but until you have the opportunity to do anything with you product which you won't but I sincerely hope that you do don't dis another musician man, that is soo tacky, you make yourself look like a self centered unenlightened individual. There are many bands and types of musicality to delve into,which is after all the beauty of being a musician or artist. Did Salvador Dali condemn Shakespeare for not biting into a writhing mass of anything still living, no, that is his M.O., we are all artists my friend, I hope that you are a young soul who can look past things you typed not fully understanding shit. I am only 25 but my dad was a pianist and I respect people of all sorts who try at the very least to use the right side of the brain, youknow, Wouldn't life be boring if everyone thought like some desk jockey and there was no Bjork to lighten up the Academy Awards? See what I mean? Anyway, once I saw your little commentary, which is your right to hold, you also were looking for feedback by being so close minded , I had to write.

Foursquaremusic@aol.com (Bill Wilson)
The best Bad Co. albums are all of the ones with Paul Rodgers, with the exception of Rough Diamonds. They are all very inspired albums. Their real magic is in their ability to take a simple thing and turn it into an amazing thing... Pure magic!

MiaVKing@aol.com
No live tracks? ever? I am saddened that none were put on the Anthology, as a never before released track, instead of things from Rough Diamonds, and some new tracks. Some of the B-sides are pretty good though... some leftovers from Free ("Easy on my Soul") and some of the stupidist lyrics ("Whiskey Bottle") but with a song like "Little Miss Fortune", Mick Ralphs lets the Yak loose for a short grunt or two and all is forgiven.

I am more dismayed that people go onto a Bad Company web site to rank on Bad Company, how many people had mullets in the 80's and make fun of them now. You cancel yourself out of the equation by doing that, oh children of Def Leppard!

Bad Company Rules! My childhood dreams were rewarded by seeing them with David Lee Roth (twice did I see VH with him fronting in the early 80's) a few summers ago. It was big dumb rock at it's finest. I would have yelled and screamed and jumped around, but a 25 year old 230 lb jock/state policman in training was sitting in the seat next to me. He showed no emotion, and probably wanted to hear something off of "Holy Water" the jackbutt!

I still had a great time as did my wife... she was not sure at first, but she has seen the big dumb light and I have lead he by the hand into it!

miavking@aol.com
I had a bad Company poster when i was a kid. The concert photo was not the greatest, but no other poster of them existed. Without seeing pictures of them in concert back then.. I had to guess who played what... I think I guessed that Mick played drums, Simon played bass, Paul was the lead guitarist and Boz was the singer!

MSVMAAS@aol.com
Bad Co. takes you to a water that you find in your mind. Their music and lyrics flow down a stream and then takes you to a sea. Once you get to that sea, they help you go to depths you have never experienced before. Some of you out there know what I am talking about. The rest of you have no clue. But that is alright. They are a great band! Like what Jimi Hendrix say's, are you experienced. Go with the flow and feel that Love.

AKCHOW2@aol.com
EVERYBODY WHO DOES NOT LIKE BAD COMPANY SUCKS THE TALLEST COCK EVER GROWN!! GO BACK TO YOUR FAG BOY,WUSS FRED DURST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. (YOU TURD TAPPERS!!)

KDSimm2@aol.com
How can anyone who knows anything at all about what good rockin' music is supposed to be bad-mouth Bad Company? The fact is, they cannot. Therefore, those who do simply have nothing on which to base their short-sighted opinion. Unless you were actually old enough to have understood the 70's DURING the 70's, you cannot, and will not ever understand the soul and emotion that is required to produce music of Bad Company's caliber. Actually being a musician helps as well. Their music is great fun to play, and it really makes a party when a band cranks out one of their timeless classics. When I say "party", I do NOT mean the watered-down, sissy, B.S. that the "generation X" pissants have going on today. Music, like everything changes.....but it's still gotta be music, man! Wake up, people. Just because you have a brain does not mean you are qualified to use it.

vitorhug@inetminas.estaminas.com.br
A banda Bad Company deve ser imortalizada na história do Rock Roll. Será dificil encontrar um introzamento tão perfeito que une a guitarra de Ralphs e o voz de Paul Rodgers. O que me chama a atenção são as canções "Burning Sky e Rock Steady", ambas idolatradas, e concerteza a melhor criação dos anos 70.

pedroandino@msn.com
stripped down blues. there is nothing better than beer chicks and rock! paul rodgers is the sexyiest man in the world! yeeha! girls you better look at his chest!!!!!! ha ha! eat cock thomas!!!

ddickson@rice.edu
HA!! HAHAHAHAHAHSHSDHDHH!! Wow. All the flamers on the Bad Company page seem to just own the GREATEST HITS ALBUM. My good God Gof. I guess that just says it all. Prindle, you have my extreme sympathies for having to put up with this admittedly hilarious shit.

Oh who am I kidding. I feel a kindred spirit coming along. . .

man how dare u dis the great bad company paul rodgers was a god he cold kik yer fukin ass mutherfuker. shore he couldn't write songs werth a crap exept on tha hits but all i care about is the hits that got played on the radio cuz im to lazy to buy their actual albums. bad company wuz great because they played guitar solos that kicked ass and because i conceived children with seven diffrent chix man with their gratest hits album playing. could you conceive childred with chix with bad companys gratest hits playing? no probably not because you probably like britney spears. at least thats what im assuming cuz im an idiot and have no idea wot im writing

GAWD, I'm an ass. Alright, back to work. Time for macroeconomic modeling, which sucks worse than Bad Company. Except their first album--better than the rest of their output combined, if you savings rate my population growth zwuzuwuwuzz

I can't BELIEVE I held off for so long! This new Paul Rodgers-less Bad Company KICKS ASS! Listen to that tough-as-nails bar band-style riff in "Burning Up"! It's almost like Mick Ralphs JUST picked up the guitar for the first time and started WAILIN' on it! Back to basics indeed! Like the most primal heartbeat of molten lava twisted and melded with the finest in slick production technology - sweetened and topped with the emotional wail of Brian Howe, a performer with a style so unique, you'll NEVER be able to decide whether he sounds just like the guy in Foreigner or exactly like the guy in Survivor.

OH GOD, song 2 just came on and it's not the ONLY thing in the room that just came! LISTEN at that tinkly faggotass keyboard and seXXXophone dripping with urban lust and monkeyshines -- forget your Slaughter, Winger and Bullet Boys - this is power balladry. "This Love," man - the hit single. And GOD KNOWS it made every critics' list that year, especially Christgau, who called it "the most eloquent statement of bloodthirsty lust since 'Burning Up,' the song directly before it on the same album, a slice of artistic visionry that will never be topped - at least not until the balls-to-the-wall siren wail of the title track smashes the listener's face in moments after the fadeout."

Not to mention the lyrical matter! Leaving the cheap sophomoric sentiments of the old, long-forgotten Bad Company (what I now call Pre-Bad Company) in the dust, Fame And Fortune takes a giant leap forward with inspirational, unforgettable tomes like "Hold On To My Heart," "When We Made Love" and the cute little existentialist trick they played wherein the track "Fame And Fortune" is placed between "This Love" and "That GIrl." And Brian Howe is damn straight - in today's commercialized society where the brass ring is everybody's goal, it's the fame and fortune that TRULY attracts a man's attention from this love to that girl.

Quite simply, this is the most brilliantly understated rock opera since the creation of the genre. When we first meet the narrator, he is "Burning Up For Your Love," but by the end of the album, as he experiences the excitement of unleashed passion and the pain and regret of love/loss over and over again, he implores, "If I'm sleeping -- DON'T WAKE ME UP!" He wants nothing to do with hurtful women, or life itself, anymore. "Bad Company" indeed!

Musically, this album is the epitome of mid-80s hard rock -- in fact, I'd go so far as to call it mid-80s hard rock personified. You will find no more accurate example of mid-80s hard rock than the music on this LP. It is, quite simply, extraordinary in its sheer ordinariness, a trait that was quite obviously intentional on the part of the Bards Ralphs, Kirke, Howe and Burrell. It's not what they offer -- it's what they HOLD BACK from the listener that makes all the impact. As the listener slowly but surely realizes that the album is completely devoid of creative hooks, intelligent production, interesting vocals or lyrics that aren't absolutely submoronic, he feels even more completely the plight of the narrator as he experiences the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

A minimalist masterpiece. I give it a 2.

Reader Comments

ddickson@rice.edu
HAR!

johnnyalpha01@yahoo.co.uk (Dan)
This is the greatest review I have ever read. I've always been a massive fan of the 'so bad, it must be making a point about crapness' review, and I've used it a couple of times myself - but never to this much effect!

Most importantly, they prove what I've been trying to say all along -- it's really not that hard to write a good rock song. It's a pretty simple form of music (unless you want to go all complicated with it for your own artistic reasons), but so many bands (including this one) tend to have such a hard time coming up with chord sequences that are fun to listen to. These are! I mean, it's not anywhere near perfect -- for example, most of the songs have a killer verse but awful fist-pumping stupidity chorus -- but it sure beats the dying nightlights out of the other three albums that Brian "Steve" Howe sang on (not to mention a couple of the crappier Paul Rodgers albums!).

I'm "all about" the loud guitars -- they're "sweeeeet" and if you have them, "it's all good."

Love,
A Guy in a Frat

Reader Comments

Leegizmo5463@aol.com
Can you write sing or even play a guitar if not every bad company song is good but bad company without paul rodgers sucks

sooners1

If only the rest of the album didn't suck lilttle army men out of a bi-curious child's ass, of course. In the words of Nick Cave, "Okay, okay, okay," the third track is a killer angry pop-metal song too. But that's IT. Everything else on here is either a miserable generic ballad or a lame-brained and lumpy-fisted macho tough guy hard rock crap song. You can sit up there in your ivory tower and complain all you want, but what you don't realize is that Bad Company take you on a journey. You can sit at home and have sex with your fat wife, but you know Bad Company gets you in there. Paul Rodgers is a GOD!

And Brian Howe is a CLOD!

That's not nice at all. I've never met him. He just sings like any other '80s pop-metal star would. It just sounds superdated today is all. And the songs -- my GOD. When a Simon Kirke solo track is one of the finest moments, you've got to know that there's something wrong with your album. He's the DRUMMER, for pete's sake. Too bad they didn't make him the singer - at least he sounds like a normal guy instead of a huge curly permed mullet attached to a mouth. If you're dying for this CD, make me an offer. I know this may seem hard to believe, but I think I can learn to live without its TWO good songs (out of 13).

Reader Comments

robchaundy@yahoo.com
Two arriveds in the space of three words! That's going some!

But where am I? Sitting in my Nowhereland. I am sub-MP3.com. Granted, I refuse to tour, pull together a band, write songs longer than 1:20 or stop saying "balls" long enough to sing a song they can put on the radio but THE POINT IS that there are thousands and millions of CDs out there available to the buying public, promoted by record labels, that just SUCK BEYOND REPAIR. Of course it makes me feel bad to know that Bad Company were allowed to record SIX studio albums after Paul Rodgers left -- I mean, they weren't even that good when he WAS in the band. But now? This stuff is miserable! And 1992, post-Nevermind, was WAY too late for a band to sound like a Southern-Fried take on Foreigner.

I will admit, even in my disgust and self-pity, that the first two songs are pretty catchy. "How About That?" is cute, likable pop metal that would have sounded really nice on MTV about SIX YEARS BEFORE IT WAS ACTUALLY RECORDED. And "Stranger Than Fiction" is an angry little dark guy (like Gary Coleman) just waiting to bust (tits) lose into a cornyass chorus. But the rest of the album? Shitty power ballads for girls with big poofy hair who gave that Ratt guitarist AIDS, boring pop songs for... umm... nobody I can figure out, and dull hard rock for really old wrinkly guys who are still totally into guitar solos. Crap with a Crapital Crap. Does anybody know the sales numbers for this turkry? Who would buy it besides me? Can you imagine paying FULL PRICE for this? It has a LITTLE KID IN A HELLS' ANGELS OUTFIT on the cover. Whoever said you can't judge a book by its cover obviously hadn't considered the levels of rank stupidity to which classic hard rockers like Bad Company and Ted Nugent (of If You Can't Lick 'Em, Lick 'Em! fame) are willing to subject themselves and their hopelessly dwindling audience. Say what you will about the faults of Social Darwinism, but Bad Company fans are clearly dying off at an extraordinary rate, raising the collective IQ of the American people up about 30 points in the process.

So go ahead. DEFEND Here Comes Trouble. And while you're at it, feel free to go into scientific detail about the merits of Billy Squier.

Do I sound bitter? Maybe it's because my work group lost 2 clients within 10 minutes on Friday. My job is hanging by a thread, Jim.

The problem, though - as always - is the songrighting. The songs just aren't that good! It's not enough to simply rip off the worst, most generic tracks from Run With The Pack (listen to "Clearwater Highway" and try to convince me it wouldn't fit perfectly alongside mindless pap smears like "Sweet Little Sister") -- to succeed in life, a band must be able to write CLASSICS. And certainly there are a few good, fun tracks on here - "Little Martha," "Gimme Gimme" and "Dance With The Devil" are all worthy of the once-valuable Bad Company stamp of approval, and ""Abandoned And Alone" sounds like FUCKIN FREE!!!!!

Speaking of "Fuckin Free," if you're a cute girl, would you mind emailing me some nude pictures of yourself? I need them for biology class. Thanks!

But a good 2/3rds of this album is redneck hard rock crap and atrocious, beyond-cliched ballads for homecoming dances that would never in a million years play a Bad Company song. Especially in 1995, for crying out loud! Maybe back in the days of Bad English and The Beach Boys' "Kokomo," but 1995? 4-year-old kids were shooting up their nursery schools in 1995! You think they're gonna listen to a song called "Loving You Out Loud" without beating the shit out of some old blowhard?

Speaking of "blowhard," if you're a cute girl, would you mind emailing me some naked pictures of yourself? I need them for masturbating in biology class. Thanks!

(Obviously I'm kidding. I haven't taken a biology class in 11 years!)

(But do send the pictures. I need them for biology class. Thanks!)

You see, half of the songs are old.

SCROLL OFF THAT SENTENCE RIGHT NOW - IF THE WRONG PEOPLE SEE IT, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.

7 of these 14 songs are re-recordings and/or reworkings of Paul Rodgers-era tracks, brought back to life by this singer who sounds just like Paul Rodgers. "Oh Atlanta" becomes a Booker. T-style '60s soul nuggert, "Can't Get Enough" is transformed into a jaunty goodtime acoustic guitar/piano downhome happytime la-de-da and "Weep No More" retains its status as worst song on the first two Bad Company albums. "Ready For Love," "Silver Blue And Gold," "Shooting Star," "Simple Man" - great before, great again. Even two of the NEW songs are great, much to my astonishment -- "Downpour In Cairo" is an excellent melancholy balladesque look-off-wistfully-into-the-distance thingy and "Love So Strong" is a GOOD ROCKER! Like their first honest-to-god GOOD ROCKER in about fifty-leven years!

The other five new songs, on the other hand (and I can say that because I LITERALLY have five fingers on my other hand! So each song corresponds with a finger! I even had the song titles tattooed onto my fingers, just to make sure that this theory had validity), put the BALL--S in BALLADS.

I'm not sure where the AD came from. Probably because they're SELLOUTS for the MAN and give all their songs to COMMERCIALS for the ALMIGHTY D$L$A$. It's like I can't turn on the TV anymore without hearing "Burnin' Sky" on an Exxon commercial, or "Feel Like Makin' Love" being used to sell donuts. Is nothing sarced?

Now on to the new release. See, I've been hearing (quietly) the hype for over a year now -- "Paul Rodgers is back in Bad Company!" "After all these years of bad hard rock albums, Bad Company has finally reunited with Paul Rodgers! They're back! And they're gonna be better than ever!" So when I saw this CD used for 7 bucks, with its little sticker saying "featuring PAUL RODGERS -- Greatest Hits Live 2002 PLUS 2 NEW STUDIO SONGS," I of course whipped out my wallet (using an actual bullwhip, believe it or not! Hence the monoball) and bought it post-immediate. And it wasn't until after I'd given up my money that I made an interesting realization. The band members on the back. They aren't...umm... well... Bad Company! This "Bad Company Reunion With Paul Rodgers" is, in fact, Paul Rodgers, the drummer from Bad Company and two guys who, as far as I know, have never set foot onto a Bad Company album in their lives. Sure, Paul looks young and hip with his Brett Gurewitz-style short spiky hair, Van Dyke goatee and horn-rimmed glasses, but where's the Mick Ralphs of Mott The Hoople fame? Where's the Boz Burrell of King Crimson fame? And most importantly - how long is it going to be before this same exact line-up puts out an album called Free's Greatest Hits 2002 -- Featuring Paul Rodgers!? This line-up is just as much Free as it is Bad Company. Hell, if Paul can hunt down that bald guy, we might have ourselves a BadCo/Free/The Firm triple-bill come this summer - with only FIVE guys setting foot on stage all night! Granted, there would still be more people onstage than in the audience, but we're not here to poke holes in the facade. So the question that you yourself have to ask yourself is this: When is a band no longer the band it once was? Take Genesis -- the only two guys to be on every album were that Mike and the Mechanics guy and that piano dude. Or The Fall or Yes -- where the band members change every five minutes or so? I guess we can consider "The Fall" to be just a synonym for "Mark E. Smith," but what about something like Black Sabbath? Tony Iommi has been putting out mediocre albums with everybody and their histrionic-vocalled brother with a mullet since the early '80s and somehow they're always referred to as "Black Sabbath" albums. So what if the Reunion album they put out a few years ago had just been Ozzy, Bill Ward and two guys who had never played on a Black Sabbath album before? Would THAT be Black Sabbath? These are all very, very interesting and important issues and I hope that we can continue to discuss them long after I make you get the fuck out of my house.

As for the CD itself and how it sounds on the musical tip, it's got 5 songs from the first album, 3 from the second (including "Deal With The Preacher," which I certainly never considered a "hit"! I've always liked the song though, so I'm not complaining), 1 from the third (but no "Run With The Pack"? Up Your Hose With A Rubber Nose!), 1 from the fourth, 1 from the fifth and then Rough Diamonds in its entirety.

HA HA! YOU READ THAT LAST PART, THOUGHT I WAS SERIOUS, HAD A HEART ATTACK AND DIED!!!! HA HA HA FUCK YOU!!!!

No but really. See the thing is - Paul Rodgers' voice still sounds great (except when he dicks all around the melody like a "soul blues" guy and completely destroys the vocal melody, as in "Shooting Star" and "Ready For Love"), but this guitarist has NO soul or natural organic feel for these songs. He actually sounds like he has the tablatures right there in front of him and is just trying to play every chord and note as it is written. Most of the songs are so simple, it doesn't make a difference, but HOOEE listen to this guy butcher the "Rock And Roll Fantasy" intro or convert Free's "All Right Now" into a Green Day song and you'll long for the liquidy fingers of Mr. Liquidy himself, Mick "Drinks Too Much Scotch And" Ralphs.

But I know the real reason you're here and what you need to know once and for all -- what do the two new songs sound like? "Joe Fabulous" is the first one, written by Mr. Paul Rodgers, and it is a very simple but perfectly effective '70s-style hard rocker along the lines of "Live For The Music" or "Can't Get Enough" - easy to play but still fun to listen to. The second one, I'm not so excited about. "Saving Grace" sounds, sad to say, a lot like EIGHTIES Bad Company, but with Paul Rodgers singing. But perhaps this was to be expected considering who wrote the song --

You sure you're ready for this?

Okay, here we go.

"Saving Grace" was written by......

Paul Rodgers AND.....

.......

......

you ready?

......

JOURNEY'S NEIL FUCKING SCHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reader Comments

dogbark3@joink.com (Christy Wiley)
Bad Company is one of the greatest bands that ever gleemed the rock charts.Their greatest achievements came when they had vocalist Brian Howe.Their music was written much better and was enjoyable to a fault. Bad Company as like Boston is a band where I enjoyed every song.

Rick5459@aol.com
the music of bad company is just easy to listen to none of the crap they write in todays so called rock music. christ ,all this shit they play today just makes me want to puke. who the f..k is limp biskit, some shit sucking no talent wuss. i think all you need to play some zep,and forget all this horse shit that they play today. punk? shit give me a shittin break,please. bad company is still hot, and rocks . bite me!

HIPPYHOP69@aol.com
I DON'T KNOW THE REASONS FOR THE ORIG LINEUP DISPURSING BUT I'MA BIG BAD CO FAN . IT JUST AINT THE SAME. THE NEW GUITARIST JUST DOESNT HAVE THE STYLE OF MICK RALPHS. THEY NEED TO GET THERE CRAP TOGETHER AND HIT THE ROAD .

avsouza@webtv.net (Tony Souza)
Well, after reading the reviews and then reading some of the comments, I believe that some Bad Company fans belong in the email Hall of Shame -- right up there with those infamous AC/DC reader comments. Look people, get a grip. BC was a good band that wrote some very good songs, nothing more. They were good, but they weren't groundbreaking in any way. They were just a solid meat and potatoes rock and roll band. Their lyrics were mostly about sex. They played simple, easy to remember hooks using simple, easy to use chord sequences. I remember when they came out. I was a teenager then and I liked them, but I didn't regard them in the same class as The Who or The Beatles even though for about five years they were one of the most popular bands in the world. But being popular doesn't necessarily elevate you to greatness. If that were the case, then Hootie and the Blowfish would have to be regarded as one of the greatest bands ever back when they were selling all those millions. And we know that would be wrong, now don't we? Overall, I agree with most of what Mark has to say about the band and the albums they put out, although I would have been a little more lenient in some spots (I'm talking about the Paul Rodgers years, not the Brian Howe years. I'm not wasting my time with that shit). Basically with this band, all you really need is one of the greatest hits collections or one of the anthologies and you'll be set.

e_hark@webtv.net (Edward Hark)
i saw bad co on direct tv on the free concert channel and i thought it was pretty good except for they didn't do rock n roll fantasy sorry to hear paul rodgers has been replaced as i think the original singer is always better

poop17@msn.com (Shelley Klukieiwicz )
Hey there.been a while.I been very tied up.anythehow..........

I am sick of you bashing my man Paul Rodgers....I met him once.hugged him twice.held his hand thrice.........he s a great singer.and The Sexiest Man In Rock............bar none!!!!!!!!!!

Free was not of this world........Bad Company was awesome.and he solo is hot as Lava also.............so..........shut the hell up bout my honey...............that all........back to my biz.........

In the words of the Never to be Equalled Jackson Browne....." Let the Music keep out Spirits High" and his dearly departed also one of a kind Pal......and our great Loss.Mr. Warren Zevon........Maybe you best go think of." Things to do in Denver when your Dead"................you know nuthin bout music......

bye now.........
:).

sabrina@voicenet.com (Sabrina Summers)
Hi, Mark. Good points you and others make about this one. I borrowed the CD off my neighbor just to hear what the group is like with Paul Rodgers. I don't qualify to critique the group as I was only a pre-teen during their heyday in 1974 but I'd like to give input at least on this one recording.

Paul is a better singer than the Robin Hart guy on "Company of Strangers". But I like COS better only because the original guitarist was still in the group. I don't think of his work in BC as exciting and innovative but I have to admit that there's just SOMETHING about his playing that I really like very much. And also with him not being in the background there's a very noticeable absence both in feeling and presence.

Sometimes the most quiet and least noticed or publicized person of a group is sometimes the one who is a spoke in the wheel or the center holding it together. The new guy here just doesn't have that undefinable "IT" that would keep me listening even though Paul is a good singer. Mick Ralphs is not my idea of a charismatic, outgoing, hunky looking star. So unlike Paul who's in shape and in some ways is even better looking today and seems to love being in the spotlight 24/7. But Mick does add something to the group that can't be denied and when he's not there the absence is very noticeable at least to me. And that IT is a quality that doesn't matter in terms of age or appearance because it has to do with the sound and sensibility being contributed. . It's something the person brings with them in terms of who they are inside, what they do and what vibe they contribute.

Not knocking Paul or his fans but this new guitarist is no good and it lessens the overall impact of the sound . Also I'd have liked it if Paul sang all of "Cant get enough" and left the audience chorus off the record. I don't care to say the least about how they sound.

I also read somewhere on-line that Paul was very miffed when BC still played in the 80s and 90s without him. He was quoted as saying there couldn't be any BC without him and that the other guys in the band had to apologize because people thought BC was still the original BC when actually the How-who-whatever Brian or this Robin were the lead singers at that time. Still, MR, a vital member of the original line-up is missing in 2002 release and yet they still go on record as Bad Company? How can that be? The lead guitarist is a key contributor to a distinctive sound and if MR is not there how can this, following the argument "is it or is it not BC?", be still called Bad Company? A valuable player, a vital 25% is gone and probably not coming back. Add to that the other valuable 25% in the bassist. Of course maybe if this new lineup with two new players were to really start writing their own music together and start gathering some new airplay then in the public mind and maybe my mind it will be like a real new BC Version 4.0. But until that happens it's kinda strange to me to hear them making most of their money on this album using material from previous albums with material from long ago and with a distinctive sound cannot be replicated. This new BC Ver. 4.0 should have the confidence to do a completely new set and a new roster of songs and maybe a new image for the 21st century.

Then of course if all the original members are benefitting businesswise and getting their royalty checks and $$$ anyway maybe that's enough and they really don't care at all and what does it matter what people think anyway? Maybe it's time for me to stop looking at this with the hopes of some sincerity on the parts of people involved and go back to being the 21st century brat and smartass I need to be in order to protect myself and not get too idealistic or hopeful about anything or anyone. After all, R'n'R is about showbiz and the business of creating imagery and feeding into a need for fantasy or escapism and to what degree a group can be convincing and satisfy that need is part of their success.

Hermit1967@aol.com (E.R. Troy,NY)
They really aren't long on personality, are they? They are just the sort of bland, generic "classic rock" that huge, corporate, commercial radio stations love to churn out.

sabrina@voicenet.com
Hermit, I agree with you. The more I listen to bits of Mick Ralph's early stuff with Mott the more I like what he did then. It had a real fire and urgency to it. I don't know what happened but he gave an interview at Vintage Guitar magazine on-line in 1999 ("The Rock n' Roll Fantasy Lives On") in which he stated he really doesn't listen to rock music preferring jazz and Mozart! And I've read in other places he was more into some kind of blues-soul stuff that was popular way before we were even walking. It's like after Mott he got stuck in this crack in the record industry and never diversified enough to move on. Which is a shame as I rather liked some of what he did. The problem with Classic Rock is that it's the Muzak of the 21st century. I mean alot of these people were important in their time and yes, they contributed alot to the growth of rock music but please lets get it on with the times. Why don't they release new stuff and grow the sound to new directions and stop relying on the past? Complacency is the beginning of senility. Or maybe all those drugs and booze sessions have led to brain rot. And that's another corporate manufactured image I question as well. If these classic rock bands had imbibed and screwed as much as we're to believe they'd have been dead from AIDS and ODs a long time ago. Oh, yes, and remember all those bands who had Satanic connections and were reputed to live in the mansions of one time Ceremonial Magicians or whatever.

Possumrat@aol.com
BAD COMPANY PUT THE BAD IN BAD COMPANY MAN.I USED TO SMOKE MY BONG NAMED BAD COMPANY AND LISTEN TO BAD COMPANY IT WAS BAD MAN.BAD COMPANY IS BAD MAN.IT GETS 5 BAD COMPANY BONG HITS OUT OF 10 BAD COMPANY BONG HITS MAN.I SMOKE BAD COMPANY THE WAY I VOTE MAN.

Alainna Earl
Bad Company had two good songs: Shooting Star and Rock n Roll Fantasy. Yet, even those songs sound so bland and boring. Seriously, I know it's these commentors opinions that Bad Company is ' the greatest band ever man', but they're somewhat like the Eagles. They were a great band ( AT THE TIME! ) but by 77 or 76, they sucked, because they never grew and frankly weren't so great to start. So yeah, they suck. And I could care less about those weirdo flamers too. If anybody could be called, ' the greatest '; it aint these folks.