Album review: MR BIG – The Stories We Could Tell

Frontiers Records [Release Date 29.09.14]

Mr Big appear to be back to stay, despite the unfortunate news of drummer Pat Torpey’s progressive illness. Three years after returning with the somewhat dry sounding ‘What If’, this latest release sees them back with all their old vigour.

The ‘supergroup’s trademark, that of combining virtuosos musicianship with traditional melodic rock songcraft, seems rejuvenated. Billy Sheehan’s upfront bass is always a big part of the sound and guitar musos will find much to appreciate in Paul Gilbert’s subtle solos and arpeggios.

Yet at the same time Eric Martin’s vocal melodies, even if a touch huskier and more lived in than in his heyday, give the end result a real accessibility on songs such as ‘Fragile’, which would surely have followed the likes of ‘To Be With You’ and ‘Just Take My Heart’ into the charts in their heyday.

Openers ‘Gotta Love The Ride’ and ‘Forget To Breathe’ fairly crackle out of the starting gate with fresh sounding riffs and enough twists and turns to keep things interesting within the confines of the song.

But the album’s other delight is the frequent changes of tempo with no successive song sounding the same: The likes of ‘Satisfied’ and the ‘Monster In Me’ have a bluesy, raunchy feel, while on the likes of ‘Just Let Your Heart Decide’ Eric is very firmly given his melodic head.

In particular ‘East/West’ has the stirring melodies and sound driven by a mixture of electric and acoustic guitars acoustically driven sound that Bon Jovi should be producing had Jon Bon Jovi not lost his mojo.

There is a slight dip in quality near the end with ‘Cinderella Smile’ and the title track perhaps insufficiently distinctive from what has gone before, plus a bonus live version of debut album classic ‘Addicted To That Rush’.

The latter seems unnecessary as it detracts from the fact that these relative veterans have delivered one of the finest and freshest albums of their career. There are unlikely to be many melodic rock albums this year with this all-round strength. *****

Review by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 20 October 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 22 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)