Artist: Bad Company
Label: Swan Song
Release: 1975
Length: 38.46
Rating: 4.5/5
Straight Shooter is the second album from blues rock titans Bad Company, and after a hugely well-received debut, Rodgers and co. rather unexpectedly pull back on the reins this time. Unlike its predecessor, which is famous for the roaring rumble of its mostly morally dubious blues rock, Straight Shooter doesn’t carry that dark charge. It’s a project conceived along similar lines, and thematically too, by four seasoned musical alley cats, with its main trump cards still firmly built on blues and soul, woven into simple, straight-to-the-point song structures. This time, though, it stretches its tentacles more openly toward markets across the Atlantic. Today you could easily mistake this shift toward lighter touches for a messy mix of the band’s natural maturing and strictly dictated maneuvering, the kind that far too often happens purely because of sky-high commercial expectations from the label. The immeasurable wealth of talent in Bad Company was prime material for that kind of scenario, but luckily the brilliant mind of Paul Rodgers wouldn’t hear of it.
The central figure of the album, as both songwriter and performer, is of course Paul Rodgers. On Straight Shooter the man marches confidently toward artistic maturity. The lessons of the carefree Free days are boldly forged here into pompous, granite-solid motifs that, in artistic value and expressive power, go far beyond the drone of naive blues-standard jamming. But no panic. Paul Rodgers’ charisma and authority, as always, offer plenty of emotional stirring, and of course they deliberately encourage the kind of conditions where an elite squad of primal instincts quickly sneaks into your noggin. With Straight Shooter Paul moves the goalposts of British-born vocal blues, or blues rock in general if you like (all of Coverdale’s moves that came years later are, with all due respect to David, often just a copy of the great master’s brilliant legacy). Though I’d hardly say Rodgers is itching to discover different shades of expression, by bringing in more concrete melody, and on top of that fitting it into ever more disciplined compositional structures, Straight Shooter slowly opens a new chapter in the story of the legendary vocalist, who increasingly leans on fully rounded-out creations in the way he expresses himself, while respectfully keeping the tradition of instinctively alive and, above all, honest expression. Carefree vibes and a pretty depraved hedonism lead us together through the opening Good Lovin’ Gone Bad, which is really a classic Bad Company affair, full of colorful acrobatics built on a hormonal base. Similar “troubles” are jealously nurtured by the completely different-natured Feel Like Makin’ Love, which delivers one of the album’s few dynamic leaps. The song is a prototype of the perfectly balanced blues rock banger, and besides the obligatory nods announcing the imminent start of mating season, it carries an infectious, singable melody through the verse. Proper bait for simple tastes, minus any rejection of the blues roots.
Straight Shooter then serves up a laid-back stroll through Weep No More, which, like Anna and to a certain extent Call On Me too, steers expertly through the soul waters often heard in the early Free days. This time, though, Rodgers’ biggest aces aren’t hidden in uncovering the charms of musical history, but in making use of his steadily growing expressive range. The hymn to the latter is the brilliant Shooting Star, a song with a dark, almost frightening lyrical message. A moving tale of the rise and (too) early fall of a rock star, it takes Paul Rodgers into previously untouched poetic depths and is one of Bad Company’s best creations. From here on, the passions flare up unpredictably, as if on a conveyor belt. Deal With The Preacher sets the Bad Company machinery spinning at full tilt, and with Wild Fire Woman the dreadful thoughts of Shooting Star seem like pale memories, buried under a thick layer of organic twitching from a monstrous testosterone machine.
With Straight Shooter, Bad Company’s colors come across more alive than ever. The album radiates vitality throughout, which in this early stage of development was surely essential for keeping the band’s life energy and creative drive going. Paul Rodgers undoubtedly played the key role in these regeneration processes, and his clear vision for the band’s development wiped out any chance of personality sparks and brought the Bad Company ranks together like a school class. The result is fitting! Straight Shooter reveals undreamed-of horizons, and at the same time sets the stage for the band’s future triumphs.
Lineup
Paul Rodgers: vocals, keyboards
Mick Ralphs: guitar
Boz Burell: bass
Simon Kirke: drums
Production
Bad Company
Tracklist
1. Good Lovin’ Gone Bad
2. Feel Like Makin’ Love
3. Weep No More
4. Shooting Star
5. Deal With The Preacher
6. Wild Fire Woman
7. Anna
8. Call On Me
