Black Country Communion 2

The previous post says My Morning Jacket may have the best album of the year.  Black Country Communion 2 is unquestionably the best Rock record released in YEARS!  I was pleased with their first album based on the resumes of the members of this "supergroup", but "2" is everything I originally expected and more.  They have heeded all the criticism and brought Derek Sherinian's keyboards out of the bowels of the mix, having them flesh out the sound on an equal basis with the other instrumentation, even allowing for call-and-response leads with Joe Bonamassa's guitar licks.  You know, I just read some guy's music blog post about how "firing the keyboardist" is the first rule for making a quality rock/metal recording.  What an idiot...  Listen to this album and then look me straight in the eye and tell me this sucks.  It cannot be done. 

Let's take the opening track and first single (pssst, that's funny...single) "The Outsider" for example.  This hard rock brain masher peels out of the speakers, forcing your hand to elevate the volume... 

And that's just a snippet.  It gets into a Deep Purple vein complete with a Blackmore riff.  Glenn Hughes is such a legend, a great front man (at 60 years of age, no less), amazing vocalist and bassist.  Most of this album features his lead vocals, a very wise move (not saying JB isn't a good singer) for this heavy a rock record.  The first name that popped into my mind was Marc Storace from Krokus in their heyday.  On another he sounded like Chris Cornell.  On one of the songs that JB sings, I swear I heard Paul Rodgers.  Let me now wander through the rest of the "reminds me of..." list in the order I jotted them down:  Scorpions, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin (duh! Bonham Jr. on drums...)...



...Van Hagar, Bon Scott-era AC/DC, David Coverdale's Whitesnake, Gamma, Gary Moore, UFO, Grand Funk Railroad.  DAMMIT man, if you don't like any of those names then kindly exit this blog promptly. 

I should not be surprised that this record hasn't been as well received as it has across the pond.  They still rock in Europe in a large way.  Makes sense that the forthcoming live DVD was recorded over there.  Looking forward to adding that visual piece of history to my stash.  You should, too...