Funky Gospel Bluesy Soulful Rock God
This is a bit of a no brainer for me, giving a Glenn Hughes album to review to someone who absolutely thinks the sun shines out of his arse – and for good reason too! Anyone of my age, and hopefully younger, knows and refers to Glenn Hughes as 'THE VOICE' of Rock. Not your definitive rock singer, Glenn has always brought something different to the table. Very bluesy, very soulful, and a scream that will send goosebumps down your spine, and falls into a very select band of soulful singers who sound as good today as they did when they first broke onto the scene. Not content with being a singer, Glenn is also an extremely talented bassist and songwriter
We have an anthology of songs – 29 in total over 2 cd's which follows Glenn's illustrious past from his days in Trapeze, to the legendary Deep Purple, and throughout his long solo career with few unexpected and also deserved songs from some classic must have albums
'Medusa' opens and its hear you hear a stripped version of his voice before the blues tinged 'you are the music' and Deep Purple voice kicks in which has remained to this day. Deep Purple MKIII was a major change for the band with both David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes coming in. As much as I love DC I have always thought that its almost shared vocal duties from the two, and the songs here definitely stand out because of Glenn's shared vocal responsibility. 'Holy Man' is the pick of the Purple songs on offer, mainly due to DC taking the B.V.s for once. DP got so funky that they would have evolved in 'Earth, Wind and Fire' had the band not imploded a year or so later
Onto a couple of songs from 'Play Me Out', GH's first solo album. Both 'LA Cut Off' and 'I found a woman' still hold their ground amongst the other songs present. One album I am so pleased to be represented here is the Hughes/Thrall album and track 'Muscle and Blood'. Definitely an 'every home should have one' album, a long lost classic, and a great rock song
A couple of 'blink and you'll miss 'em' tracks follow with contributions from a collaboration with Gary Moore (Reach For They Sky). A Gary Moore album never sounded better! A brief stint in Black Sabbath follows (the excellent ballad No Stranger To Love, yes a Sabbath ballad!). Disc 1 finishes with two live tracks, the ultimate Deep Purple track from this era, 'Burn', taken from Burning Japan Live, a rip-roaring, spine tingling track of a song I want playing at my funeral/cremation, and a Hughes /Thrall fave 'Coast To Coast'.
Disc 2 covers GH's solo career covering the last 12 years, bar one track, another return to the fold with Tony Iommi, 'Dopamine' the opener from 'Fused'. Solo career stand-outs from the second disk are.... all of them! Just listen to 'Double Life'. If that's not melted butter, velvet, treacle, all rolled into one, then I don't know what is. A true reflection of what Glenn is all about, seductive and funky, soulful and bluesy. 'Coffee and Vanilla' made solely for GH himself, nowhere near a rock song but a soul/funk easy listening song. My other listening pleasures are 'The Way It Is' a song that got me back into Glenn Hughes in the late 90's, a favourite solo cd of the many on offer
Recent album releases are represented in the songs 'Soul Mover', and 'Steppin On'. The cd finishes with two unreleased tracks, 'Justine' an unreleased demo, and a live recording from 2007 of Deep Purple's 'This Time Around'
When a record company puts an album together they take no notice of the fans, or even the artist come to think of it. Here we have an album full of Glenn's favourites and hopefully some of yours too.
Surprisingly no tracks are present from one of my fave solo album of Glenn's, 'From Now On...' an AOR-tastic album if ever I heard one.
My only disappointment is that there are so many other songs which could have been included, maybe and hopefully a Volume 2 will follow one hopes. Glenn has been the master of the side-project over the years and an opportunity has been missed for some of these songs to appear here, from albums with Geoff Downes, Chris Catena, Nikolo Kotsev, Joe Lynn Turner, Phenomena, Moonstone Project, Niacin and many, many others. Despite this niggle, this is an excellent history lesson and introduction to one the best singers this country has ever produced
Enough of me gushing, just go buy the damn thing