Artist: Michael Schenker Group
Label: Cleopatra Records
Released: 2005
Rating: 1.5/5
Well, then. After listening to “Heavy Hitters,” it seems Schenker has fallen into a full-blown cover-song mania. The Schenker / Davey Pattison collaboration and their two joint records “The Endless Jam” and “The Endless Jam Continues” were hugely impressive efforts, with Schenker more inspired than he’d been in ages.
“Heavy Hitters” just doesn’t come close. The cover has MSG printed on it in huge letters! But honestly, I’d have a hard time calling this a Michael Schenker Group record. It’s easier to say Schenker rounded up a pile of big names and guest players, and had himself a pretty sweet time with them in the studio.
Surprisingly, though, the album leaps up high right out of the gate with a cover of Elvis Presley’s All Shock Up, which is reworked brilliantly, barely recognizable, and Schenker finds his footing perfectly in the waters of the king of rock’n’roll, waters he of course steers convincingly his own way, with the track marked by Joe Lynn Turner’s phenomenal vocals. The bluesy tracks clearly suit Schenker best, and “Heavy Hitters” rolls along nicely with Blood Of The Sun (sung by living legend Leslie West, who is also the song’s original author and the boss of Mountain!), which, together with I Don’t Live Today and the closer Poltician (a Cream cover), is another of the record’s more impressive moments. In these songs, Schenker is at his best. He clearly has a lot of respect for the first-generation blues rockers.
The real disappointment, though, is stuck in War Pigs, Money, Doctor Doctor and Out In the Fields. Unbelievable. On War Pigs, Schenker burns way too many notes, shoving his guitar into every transition and trying to dress it up with ornaments. A song of that caliber is only hurt by that much melody. Pink Floyd’s Money suffers from the same syndrome, a totally routine, empty song. Neither Tim Owens’ (Iced Earth) excellent screeching nor Edgar Winter’s sax can lift these two classics out of their sorry below-average state. On top of that, Schenker had to add yet another run at the UFO classic Doctor Doctor, which he’s played countless times in his life, and it’s a completely uninspired “dribble.” So the classics written by Michael’s contemporaries clearly aren’t as deeply respected by him as the ones by the fathers of ”white blues.”
Schenker has buried the record in solos, and of course he solos beautifully, but clearly his soloing isn’t right for every song. You just can’t solo everything the same way with the same effects. What’s more, some originals sound so unbeatable in their primal form that next to Schenker’s interpretation on “Heavy Hitters,” they now come off downright grotesque. First off, there’s no cohesive band. Second, the big names are mere routine extras on the record. And so Schenker disappointed a bit this time, since you can feel he slapped the record together nervously and too fast, and glued all the pieces to each other in a pretty sloppy way. The idea of “idealess” on “Heavy Hitters” knows very few limits! This record is only relevant for strict and fanatical fans of Michael Schenker.
Lineup
Gary Barden, Jeff Scott Soto, Joe Lynn Turner, Leslie West, Paul Di’Anno, Sebastian Bach, Tim “Ripper” Owens, Tommy Shaw, Mark Slaughter – vocals
Michael Schenker guitar
Bob Kulick – guitar
Chuck Wright, Jeff Pilson, Marco Mendoza, Mike Inez, Phil Soussan, Rudy Sarzo, Tony Franklin, Tony Levin – bass guitar
Eric Singer, Mike Baird, Aynsley Dunbar, Vinnie Appice, Simon Wright – drums
Edgar Winter – saxophone
Production
Bob Kulick
Track list
1. All Shook Up – Elvis Presley
2. Blood Of The Sun – Mountain
3. Doctor Doctor – UFO
4. War Pigs – Black Sabbath
5. I’m Not Talking – Mose Allison
6. Money – Pink Floyd
7.I Don’t Live Today – Jimi Hendrix
8.Hair Of The Dog – Nazareth
9.Out In The Fields – Gary Moore
10.Politician – Cream
Album length: 50:00
