Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: White, Doogie
Label: Metal Mind Productions
Release: 2011
Length: 47:01
Rating: 4/5
It was high time that the legendary Scottish singer Doogie White put out a solo studio album of his own. Over the years he’s put in time with Rainbow, with the »Swedish Blackmore obsessive« Y.J. Malmsteen, helped out Praying Mantis, sang for Cornerstone, and is currently the vocalist of n.w.o.b.h.m. legends Tank.
»As Yet Untitled« is, from head to toe, exactly what Doogie White should have been doing with Rainbow, and of course what he should have been for Y.J. Malmsteen. From there it’s not far to Deep Purple or Whitesnake either, starting with Coverdale’s apprentice years, whose hard-won lessons that swashbuckling David later poured into Whitesnake. »As Yet Untitled« is a classic hard rock album, full of Hammond organ conversations and virtuoso guitar slashing.
Doogie White is a hugely respected vocalist in the rock world. Over his career he’s been friends, and still is, with plenty of musicians, plenty of established players who are just as top-notch and distinctive in their approach to music. So White gets help on this album from a horde of tried-and-tested, seasoned Swedish musicians (Sweden is known for a whole galaxy of hard rock bands that Rainbow had a truly fateful influence on in shaping their style and sound – starting with Europe). Take Pontus Norgren, who played the lion’s share not only as guitarist (he also pitched in on bass and keyboards) but as the album’s producer too. Doogie “picked him up” during his years working with Y.J. Malmsteen, whose guitar tech Norgren was before joining HammerFall. Then there’s Royal Hunt guitarist Markus Jidell, plus another buddy of Doogie’s from the Malmsteen days, drummer Patrik Johansson, and drummer Thomas Broman, who has moved in the same circles as giants like Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner, John Norum… And then there are the even bigger fish, like Tony Carey, the original Rainbow keyboardist from the days of the album »Rising«, the “awesome” Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Black Country Communion), Neil Murray (Black Sabbath, Whitesnake) on bass, bassist Greg Smith (Ted Nugent)…
The album’s very opener, tellingly titled Come Taste The Band, pulls straight toward the opening of Rainbow’s »Rising« (1976), with a full-on “twisted” intro combining “space” keyboard loops and a gentler Hammond rumble. Most of the songs carry that epic seasoning, pompously melodic tunes of the kind where the late Ronnie James Dio and Tony Martin (Black Sabbath) would feel right at home. Doogie White delivers the whole repertoire with outstanding class. His voice serves him perfectly, and the master glides through a wide vocal range with feather-light ease, keeping the power and explosive responsiveness of his delivery intact in every single register! That’s the most infectious thing about »As Yet untitled«, and it’s what gives it full credibility as a solo studio album. With the big names involved, it could easily have happened that one of them took over the album, but no. Everything is subordinate to Doogie White’s vocal performance. A crew of mature musical names who can’t hide it, with a wealth of experience and talent laid in the cradle, builds a juicy, full sound picture that gets maximum mileage out of everything, and the songs just burst with life and “realness”.
This album doesn’t bring a musical revolution, but it’s more than tailor-made for fans of Rainbow, Deep Purple and Whitesnake (and we mustn’t forget the work of Yngwie J. Malmsteen either). It’s packed with vivid, classically seasoned arrangements of those bands, and Doogie White, with his vocal trademarks, brings those feelings to life and plays them off against each other, pouring even more oil on the fire. Not only does the title of the opening Come Taste The Band, on the face of it, pull you into that feeling, it’s also impossible to dodge this classic hard rock onslaught later on the album, in songs like: Dreams Lie Down And Die, Land Of The Deciever, Times Like These , Lonely in Sea Of Emotion. The detours from the album’s course are the AC/DC-“flavored” Time Machine and Catz Got Yer Tongue. And there are no misses on the album. Simple as that. Doogie White has poked into the sphere that’s most familiar to him, where he feels best and which he commands with confidence, and with his distinctive voice and vocal delivery he offers up an excellent classic hard rock album that doesn’t lack lion-hearted courage and the noble old-school charisma of rock.
Line-up
Doogie White – vocals
Patti Russo – backing vocals
Pontus Norgren – guitar, keyboards, bass
Marcus Jidell – guitar
Phil Hilborne – guitar
Mick Tucker – guitar
Derek Sherinian – keyboards
Tony Carey – keyboards
Neil Murray – bass
Greg Smith – bass
Paul Logue – bass
Patrick Johansson – drums
Thomas Broman – drums
Production
Pontus Norgren
Track list
1. Come Taste The Band
2. Time Machine
3. Dreams Lie Down And Die
4. Lonely
5. Land Of The Deceiver
6. Secret Jesus
7. Sea Of Emotion
8. Catz Got Yer Tongue
9. Living On The Cheap
10. Times Like These
