If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now – Christopher Thelen

In the opening minute of
If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now, the reunion album
from Billy Sheehan and Talas, it is declared to the live audience
in Buffalo, New York that this is the moment they had waited 14
years for. Which leads me to pose the question: was a reunion
really necessary?

I mean, aside from the fact that Sheehan is one of the
best-known bass guitarists in rock today (thanks to stints with
David Lee Roth and Mr. Big), Talas was never a huge name in the
hard rock field. As much as I was a metalhead back in those days, I
honestly could not remember hearing Talas mentioned on the one
heavy metal show on the radio or seen their name scribbled on my
buddies’ school bags.

Talas, no matter how you look at it, was a cult favorite –
influential, perhaps, but not meant for the mainstream. Maybe
that’s why I had a problem building up any excitement over
If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now – to misquote Dan
Hicks, how can we miss you if we don’t realize you went away?

To give credit where credit is due, the way the band handles
vocal chores is admirable, and the harmony work I heard here was
quite pretty. Likewise, there were some performances that stood
out, such as the set opener “Sink Your Teeth Into That” and “Shy
Boy”. Sheehan, guitarist/vocalist Dave Constantino and
drummer/vocalist Paul Varga do show at times glimmers of past
glories, glimmers that may make you wonder why Talas was never
mentioned in the same breath as bands like Bon Jovi or Def
Leppard.

But just as the moments of glory come through, so do the signs
of weakness. As a trio, Talas almost begs for the addition of a
permanent rhythm guitarist, if only to give Sheehan a break from
his fanciful bass noodlings. (Sometimes I wonder if all the riffing
he did was absolutely necessary.) Sometimes, the songwriting isn’t
the strongest – possibly the key reason why Talas never made it to
the upper strata of success. Songs like “Power To Break Away” and
“Thick Head” are not always the greatest moments in hard rock, and
they sound incredibly dated.

The most interesting moment on this album, ironically, comes on
a tune that Talas didn’t write. I don’t know why covering King
Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” has become the thing to do,
but Talas kicks some serious life into this song. It is almost as
if Constantino and crew were meant to jam on this one since it was
written; it seems perfect for all three instrumentalists. This one
song alone made it worth slugging through the disc.

I say “slugging through” because it took me somewhere around 10
listens before I got through one complete sitting. With this album,
it’s incredibly easy to lose your focus and to daydream off,
leaving the album behind. That’s not a good sign; a good album
should keep my attention for almost the entire record.

Of course, those who followed Talas religiously (or have become
devotees to Sheehan) will find
If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now to be indispensible.
For the rest of us, this is a learning experience that I’m not
totally convinced is worth investing a lot of time into.