SONIC WAVES REVIEW….Bachman/Heavy Blues

What do Neil Young,Peter Framptom,Jeff Healy(Rip),Joe Bonamassa,Robert Randolph,Luke Doucet and my homeboy from Rival Sons Scott Holiday have in common?

They all rip out some real cool guitar solos on different tracks on the new release by Randy Bachman called Bachman/Heavy Blues. How can you not admire Randy’s back catalogue of Canadian Rock Genius. The cat has written many a hit from the Guess Who thru to BTO and as well as solo act!(Hey You,Takin Care Of Business,You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,Undun,Prairie Town,American Woman and many others….)

The last Bachman album I bought was Any Road from 1993 so it’s been a while but too be honest I Was really intrigued when he got some top notch guitar heroes to put down there magic on his album plus for a added bonus feature Randy hired Anna Ruddick on drums and Dale Anne Brendan on bass!(female rhythm section!)

Kevin Shirley big producer guy of Zeppelin,Rush,Iron Maiden and many others is controlling the dial here(producing) so the sonics are intact!

BOOM……4 WHEEL DRIVE……

THE EDGE-Randy makes no qualms about writing and playing a tune that could have fit nicely on The Whos By Numbers album! Yeah it’s a total tribute to Randys heroes! The 2 lady’s hold down the drums and bass were off to a real good start! Crank the video posted and you will know what I’m talking about!

TONS OF BRICKS- my homeboy Scot Holiday from the Rival Sons lays down some real sweet slide on track 2 and Mr Holiday is the first guest guitarist out of the gate and Scot throws it down! It’s great to see him leave the massive fuzz o distortion box and just crank down some serious guitar rock! The song itself is is a straight ahead rocker mixed with some acoustic and of course some real cool slide courtesy of Mr Holiday and he solos off the rails here! The lyrics tell Ya the world will hit you like a Ton Of A Bricks! For a added bonus Bachman takes on Satan in this tune and Scot ends the tune with some real ferocity of playing!

BAD CHILD – Joe Bonamassa shows up with his 6 string and plays to this mid tempo track and he wails on the solo while Randy and crew tell us he’s a Bad Child! Hahahaha at 71! Cool stuff Randy never change dude! Bonamassa man want can you say about this guy!

LITTLE GIRL LOST- this song is real good(cowbell included)and hey Randy’s Ol pal Neil Young shows up and riffs away as Randy tells us about the Little Girl Lost who’s basically a ahem lady of the night so to speak! Young during his solo cranks his amp to 11 and rocks this song almost to a ZZ Top shuffle of a sound! Neil takes over this song with his playing love his tone all big and fuzzy kinda cool shit!

LEARN TO FLY- This is another ZZ kinda sounding tune and Randy and the Ladies rock the Fort by themselves on this track. Great tune with real cool lines like “Shoulda coulda worked!” Man I hear Billy Gibbons on this track but he isn’t and Randy steps up 10 notches hear and jams down some serious riffing! Awesome track!

OH MY LORD- let’s keep ZZ sound going and Robert Randolph and his slide guitar show up along with some backing vocals from some ladies! This song is driven by the drums and they drive the Bachman bus forward! Tons of guitars on this track! That’s the cool thing here Randy lets these guitar guys do there thing and they deliver!

CONFESSIN TO THE DEVIL- almost like a Who Do You  Love kinda beat! The late great Jeff Healey lays down the solo on this track and it’s great to hear him! The chorus gets heavy with some Bachman power chords and backing vocals and Wowzers Bachman is going straight after Confessin To The Devil! Yeah man he is he says it not me! Healey pulls off the solo like you know he does and Bam he takes this tune up a notch!

HEAVY BLUES- Petey Frampton leaves the talk box at home and him and the Rand rock this tune together! Holy shit Frampton shows up and just hits the solo out of the park! The title track is a scorcher with the ladies on the drums/cowbell and bass just pushing the song forward into uncharted waters! The chorus ramps up big time and Frampton takes over!

WILD TEXAS RIDE- Bachman and the Girls rock this tune. Y themselves and holy hell more cowbell to sell and big guitars,big sound good job Kevin Shirley with the sonics to not overproduce this bad boy of a album! This is a fast little corker of a tune! Great solo by Bachman and he holds his own on this song with the big boys of guitar gods that are all over Heavy Blues!

PLEASE COME TO PARIS -this fella named Luke Doucet lays done some serious riffage and thsi song speeds up as it goes and this song has a real cool pace to it ! Doucet is a guy that i should out as he lays waste to his solo on this record I mean rips away but doesn’t over do it!

WE NEED TO TALK – a slower number that moves at a slower clip than the previous 10 tracks and that’s ok man Randy had the pedal pushed up to this point so let him chill will Ya! Great relaxing solo and Randy does a good job on this !

HEAVY BLUES-the only difference is this version has Randy rocking the solo and this is the same for the video that is posted!

IN CONCLUSION- too be totally honest with you if Randy Bachman just would have put out this record without these top notch guitar gurus I would have passed and  that would have been brutal of me as these songs are real good and to have the A list of guys involved is a added bonus! Bachman/Ruddick and Brendan show up and rock this album from start to finish! For the year 2015 Heavy Blues is a real awesome release of rock! Check it out …..