Published on Aug 31, 2000
Anyone who is an afficionado of classic rock will know Paul
Rodgers’s voice almost instantly. Whether it was his work with
Free, his powerful lead presence in the first incarnation of Bad
Company, or his short stint as lead throat with The Firm, Rodgers
has built up quite a musical resumé for himself.
Yet since the breakup of The Firm, Rodgers has not been able to
carve out a successful solo career for himself, to the point where
he’d probably have difficulty getting arrested in the States. It’s
not that his solo efforts have been bad – rather, they’ve just been
bland.
His latest disc,
Electric, is no exception to this pattern. Is it a bad disc?
Absolutely not. But it takes the safe road, displaying 10 songs
which could have easily been leftovers from Rodgers’s Bad Company
days, only without the guitar work of Mick Ralphs to seal the
deal.
In a sense, this could be seen as Rodgers putting himself
through the typical singer’s workout. On one side, he’s blazing
through the power rockers like “Deep Blue” and “Love Rains,”
sounding close to the young singer he once was. On the other side,
Rodgers handles the ballads like “Over You,” “Conquistadora” and
“Jasmine Flower”. There is plenty of middle ground on
Electric, as songs like “Walking Tall” and “Freedom”
demonstrate.
Rodgers hits his peak on the hauntingly beautiful “Jasmine
Flower,” a song a father sings to his daughter, though I am having
trouble deciphering whether this is being sung to a child or to the
young woman she has become. Whichever the case, it’s a powerful
song that I can easily see becoming an adult-contemporary
favorite.
Yet there are signs of the songwriting excess that has plagued
Rodgers throughout his career. Case in point: “Conquistadora,”
which gets a little too bogged down in a story line to be
effective. Musically, it’s okay, but it loses any momentum it had
quickly.
Yet
Electric doesn’t seem like it’s an album made to win over
new fans. If anything, this feels like it’s supposed to be a
reminder for those who used to listen to Rodgers in other groups
that he’s still out there, and he still has the pipes that can
carry the tunes. In a sense, that’s a relief to hear – but it’s
still somewhat unsatisfying that he doesn’t try to break any new
ground here.
Electric is the kind of album that longtime Bad Company fans
will adore, since it often sounds like it was cut directly from
that mold. It’s proof that Rodgers can still hold his own in this
field, but it’s not going to be the key to opening the door to solo
success for Rodgers.