Published on Apr 22, 1997
Way back when I got into Bad Company in my high school days, I
went down to the used record store (before they knew me on a
first-name basis) and grabbed the two Bad Company albums I could
afford at the time, one of them being their third album
Run With The Pack. (I vaguely remember hearing the title
track a few weeks previous at a concert I had attended.)
Unlike their previous two efforts, this release didn’t have a
smash top-40 single, and Mick Ralphs and crew dared to go past the
traditional hard rock that had catapulted the band into
superstardom. This could be why
Run With The Pack has not held up as well.
The album opens up with “Live For The Music,” a song that I
can’t believe made it onto the post-breakup/pre-reunion greatest
hits album,
10 From 6. The song lacks a cohesive rhythm unit – indeed,
it sounds like the guitar, bass and drum lines were thrown
together. This is a mishmash that just doesn’t work. Surprisingly,
Paul Rodgers and band bounce back on the very next track with
“Simple Man,” a rock ballad that has more emotion than you could
imagine in Rodgers’s vocals.
While
Run With The Pack has been criticized for proving that Bad
Company was a formula band, it is when they turn to the rock side
that this formula works the best. “Honey Child” and “Sweet Lil’
Sister” are the unsung classics on this one, the latter being a
personal favorite. However, when they turn to a doo-wop standard on
“Young Blood,” they fall flat.
Another hidden gem on this one is the track “Silver, Blue &
Gold,” which merges the vocal talents of Rodgers with Ralphs’s
subdued guitar lines. Simon Kirke adds just the right touch on the
drums, as does Boz Burrell on bass.
As for ballads, well… let’s just say they need a little more
work. “Do Right By Your Woman” is a pretty number, while “Fade
Away” almost succeeds… and “Love Me Somebody” simply blows. Oh
well… two out of three ain’t bad.
For those who are intrigued to hear what Bad Company had to
offer past the “best-of” set,
Run With The Pack is an okay effort, but is probably not the
best place to start exploring.