Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Winery Dogs, The
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2015
Duration: 65:55
Rating: 4/5
There’s no need to waste words on these three super musicians, Billy Sheehan, Richie Kotzen and Mike Portnoy. Three musical machines. Each one an absolute one-of-a-kind. In this trio, each of them was carried along by their very own musical wind. Three originals. Compare them to their peers and you’ve got absolute phenomena who stick out from the average from miles away.
So I don’t ramble on with a huge intro, let’s get straight to the point. The album »Hot Streak« continues the story of the self-titled debut that came out in 2013. Judging by how quickly Kotzen has been churning out studio albums in recent years, it’s clear his creativity has by no means dried up, including when it comes to writing material for the new The Winery Dogs album.
On »Hot Streak« too, you can pick up on a multilayered musical blueprint, which comes from the different musical worlds in which the band’s three building blocks developed over their careers. Kotzen is the ideas man. He brings the soul, funk, hard rock and even blues ingredients, while Sheehan and Portnoy build on those starting points with their trademark bits of ultra-virtuosic improvisation, so the new album once again flirts with and winks at elements of progressive rock and even jazz rock fusion. You won’t be bored listening to this one. What’s more, you’ll discover just how much lucid fun and mischievous moves this whirlwind trio can pull off in the studio. In an extremely short time. That said, compared to its predecessor, the new album doesn’t make any particular evolutionary leap in a new direction.
Beyond the fact that Kotzen keeps improving enormously as a vocalist, and beyond the superb, rock-solid chemistry of the three building blocks of The Winery Dogs’ story, plus the strong musicality the trio develops across the album (two of the best-constructed compositions on the record are surely Ghost Town and, later, Spiral), you have to keep in mind throughout that the egos of all three keep dictating that the available space be stuffed with tons of solo escapades. Because of that, the songs can occasionally be a slog to listen to, since the stretched-out solo passages that loosen up the songs’ main motifs sound very much alike (Portnoy’s rolls, already almost predictable, included). The album was played quickly and recorded quickly. That’s why it has a distinctly live production. As if it had been played at a gig. Sheehan once again covers a huge amount of ground with his thick, chunky, »groovy« bass tone. But so the album isn’t just Hercules flexing his muscles, The Winery Dogs also lean into ballad moments, like the acoustic song Fire, where Kotzen’s soft subtlety and sensual refinement come through especially well (solos included).
»Hot Streak« also remains an absolute one-of-a-kind, one that the biggest music gourmands will happily reach for, along with anyone looking for a raw, authentic, stripped-down avalanche of rock energy, filled to the brim with playing passion. Although the album is two or three songs too long, the trio keeps working fantastically and, with this new album too, remains creatively unexhausted.
Line-up
Richie Kotzen – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Billy Sheehan – bass guitar, backing vocals
Mike Portnoy – drums, vocals, backing vocals
Production
The Winery Dogs
Track list
01. Oblivion
02. Captain Love
03. Hot Streak
04. How Long
05. Empire
06. Fire
07. Ghost Town
08. The Bridge
09. War Machine
10. Spiral
11. Devil You Know
12. Think It Over
13. The Lamb
