Bad Company

With Bad Company’s debut, the curves of Rodgers’ evolutionary maneuvers become perfectly clear. By moving away from the “morbid” (to many) blues-rock themes of the Free days, Bad Company throws the doors wide open to simpler, granite-solid blues and rock elements with broader appeal. To that end, Paul assembled a killer combination of musical talents around him, on one side his old Free buddy, the exceptional “downbeat” drummer Simon Kirke, former Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell.

So with Bad Company, Paul Rodgers continues down a logical path of development, and along the way unwittingly lays the foundations for what later turned out to be one of the most innovative rock attractions of the ’70s. And although his voice still winds along those characteristically deep lines, Rodgers for the first time gives up the recognizable raspiness in his vocals that we were used to from the Free days. In that respect, his vocal delivery is practically perfected down to the finest detail, because it fits the overall Bad Company message to a T. What’s more! Rodgers’ voice is full of juicy extravagance and rightly serves as the main driver behind a sexual atmosphere that, perhaps with the exception of early Whitesnake, would be hard pressed to find a worthy rival!

Bad Company kick off in grand style, with the energy-charged rocker Can’t Get Enough, which doesn’t skimp on tapping the lineup’s huge potential. Cant’ Get Enough sets the basic tone of the album right from the start and roughly sketches out the balance of power. Rodgers arranged it in the style of a grand master. Besides the ever-confident Ralphs, we can’t ignore the sensational Kirke/Burrell rhythm section here. The in-the-groove duo breathes practically with every one of Rodgers’ steps, is aggressive when it needs to be and unbelievably tame in the album’s subtlest passages. But the band’s main trump card of course remains Paul Rodgers himself! The juiciness of his voice perfectly fuses emotional energy worthy of the greatest blues and soul masters with the roughly chopped riffs of Mick Ralphs, which seem tailor-made for the great vocalist. The chunky blues rocker Rock Steady is the perfect exhibition of the symbiosis between the two. A venom that can only be matched by the chilling darkness of the title track, it quickly crawls under your skin, mostly thanks to the rigorous spinning of the rhythmic gears. And that’s far from all! Almost in passing, Bad Company toss in Ready For Love, a song originally written for Mott The Hoople, which demonstrates without prejudice why Paul Rodgers is one of the best vocalists in the business. Not even the soul-inspired gems Don’t Let Me Down and The Way I Choose can match that stunning vocal performance! Against such relentless competition Movin’ On comes off as totally dispensable, while Rodgers’ acoustic descent into Seagull proves a fitting close to the album. Seagull in itself is nothing special, it lacks catchy melody, but as usual the mere Rogers interpretation is enough here to make your hair stand on end. Fantastic!

With the Bad Company debut, the British blues-rock front became practically overnight stronger by one more excellent band, one that never intended to settle for following trends, which of course comes as no surprise. Paul Rodgers had already written an important part of music history with Free, and on the wings of that sensational debut Bad Company soon headed in the same direction – straight into the annals of music!