Shout Out: 70s Studio Albums - Bad Company

Last week, I saw Bad Company on their Swan Song tour and bloody loved it. I loved it so much that I decided to revisit the first five studio albums by the band (all the albums released in the 1970s) and do a quick shout out to each of them, as they're all worth listening to.
I haven't listened to Rough Diamonds, released in 1982 as the last album with the band's original line-up, but I'm sure that's got some great tunes on it too like "Electricland". Anyway, time to start with the band's self-titled debut.

Bad Company is one of two albums responsible for giving us iconic Classic Rock hits by the band, starting off with album opener "Can't Get Enough", an upbeat rewrite of Mick Ralph's "One Of The Boys" chord sequence from his time with Mott The Hoople ("Ready For Love" is also a Mott The Hoople cover that's often attributed to being a Bad Company original). However, the album doesn't peak there. It also contains "Movin' On", "Rock Steady", "Seagull" and of course "Bad Company", all hits among the Classic Rock community but none more so than the title track.
It's a great listen from start to finish with a healthy variety of music and some fantastic production values for its time (it was released two years before Boston's debut!). If you like any of the songs off this album, you'd be wise to give the rest a listen as well. An incredibly strong debut from this Classic Rock supergroup!

1. Can't Get Enough

2. Rock Steady

3. Ready For Love

4. Don't Let Me Down

5. Bad Company

6. The Way I Choose

7. Movin' On

8. Seagull

ALBUM RATING - 8/10

Of course the only problem now is how to top this with the follow up album.

The solution? Straight Shooter.

I would say on average, Straight Shooter is just what the band needed to survive. It may not contain as many iconic Classic Rock staples but the few tracks that were released as singles are, in my opinion, superior to the ones on the debut. Album opener "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" shows listeners that Paul Rodgers and (bad) co still know how to deliver good old fashioned Rock but it's the next track that pulls out all the stops. "Feel Like Makin' Love" combines soft acoustic guitar melodies and romantic lyrics with heavy power chord riffs and a chorus about shagging; two opposing ends of the Rock songwriting spectrum that come together absolutely fucking perfectly.

The album also contains "Shooting Star", a beautiful tribute to what would become known as the 27 Club, "Weep No More", a Bluesy number for fans of material from Paul Rodgers' other well known band Free, and "Wild Fire Woman", a sturdy Classic Rocker with an "OHHHHHH THAT song!!" chorus. Whilst Bad Company was firmly in the Classic Rock category, Straight Shooter delves into Hard Rock territories meaning the album is better suited for fans of both genres rather than one or the other. Fortunately, it's still a well written collection of great material regardless of personal taste.

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

ALBUM RATING - 8/10

To me, Bad Company and Straight Shooter are the band at their peak but even if you're not a Bad Company fan, I'd still recommend the first three albums if you can enjoy Classic Rock...well, the first half of the third album anyway. It may not have created as many hits as the first two albums but Run With The Pack is still, at its heart, a Bad Company album.

Much like the debut, this album contains a modest number of great tracks that are fairly well known but nothing quite as awesome or iconic as any off Straight Shooter (although that's just my opinion). Among the great tunes are riff-based album opener "Live For The Music", Folk Rock number with strong Neil Young vibes "Simple Man", Classic Rock single "Honey Child" and piano heavy title track "Run With The Pack". The album has a grander sound with the increased use of strings and piano as an accompaniment to the Rock, as well as an increased number of slower songs. This probably attributed to the diminished acclaim but make no mistake, it's still a solid record.
Other than that though, it's probable that the singles off this album didn't receive the same attention that tracks like "Bad Company" and "Feel Like Makin' Love" got due to the more common lyrical nature of those songs in comparison. Despite this, Run With The Pack is a good listen if you haven't heard many of the tracks but if you prefer the band when they're rocking out, you may be disappointed with the softer sound of this album.

1. Live For The Music

2. Simple Man

3. Honey Child

4. Love Me Somebody

5. Run With The Pack

6. Silver, Blue & Gold

7. Young Blood

8. Do Right By Your Woman

9. Sweet Lil' Sister

10. Fade Away

ALBUM RATING - 6/10

The next album in the band's career is somewhat of a buried treasure, as none of the songs on it are Classic Rock hits but several of them are great Rock songs. Swaying more towards the Hard Rock side, Burnin' Sky is the band slowly clawing back some of the energy they lost in the last album...but did they claw back enough?

Clearly realising that their last album was a little too delicate, Bad Company decided to turn it back up to whatever it was on during their debut album's recording sessions. Album opener and title track "Burnin' Sky" may be a slow burner (so to speak) but the heavy organ and strong riffs, along with the lyrical themes, create a suitable introduction to what should've been a Hard Rock album. However, even though the tracks sound heavier on the surface, they're lacking the same energy and power that tunes off the first two albums boasted with pride.

There's something about the filler tracks that feel formulaic. The guitar riffs sound like lesser versions of earlier songs and tracks that deviate from this head in the wrong direction, such as pointless interlude "Knapsack" and seven-minute Steve Miller Band wannabe "Master Of Ceremony". What the band needed was to go even further with the heavier riffs, as Heavy Metal was becoming more popular with the rise of bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Scorpions whilst Classic/Hard Rock bands such as Queen, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin retained their power.

1. Burnin' Sky

2. Morning Sun

3. Leaving You

4. Like Water

5. Knapsack

6. Everything I Need

7. Heartbeat

8. Peace Of Mind

9. Passing Time

10. Too Bad

11. Man Needs Woman

12. Master Of Ceremony

ALBUM RATING - 6/10

OK, this may have started off well but by now you're probably wondering why I like this band so much considering their last two albums were disappointing. We're at the last album of this blog post now and if you listen to Rock radio, you'll probably recognise a few of these tunes as Bad Company slowly started to get back on track with Desolation Angels...no really, I mean it this time.

If you like at Rock bands that start off well, building up a solid fan base before trying something new and losing some of those fans (which is pretty much any band that's released more than three or four albums), they always end up "going back to their roots". Or, in layman's terms, "releasing music that fans actually want" which is often the first few albums of theirs. Desolation Angels is no exception as Bad Company scrapped the idea of being fully Hard Rock and instead went back to feel-good Classic Rock, albeit retaining some of the ideas they adopted along the way.

Album opener and lead single "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" showcases this mix of old and new pretty well, blending guitar melodies and soulful vocals with use of synthesisers and heavier drumming. The album features a good variety of songs too, ranging from upbeat Classic Rock with a modern twist ("Evil Wind", "Rhythm Machine") to softer tracks with less frills and needless accompaniments than tunes off Run With The Pack ("Early In The Morning", "Crazy Circles"). All in all, it's still not quite as great as their first two efforts but it was a good imitation.

1. Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy

2. Crazy Circles

3. Gone, Gone, Gone

4. Evil Wind

5. Early In The Morning

6. Lonely For Your Love

7. Oh, Atlanta

8. Take The Time

9. Rhythm Machine

10. She Brings Me Love

ALBUM RATING - 7/10

I'll have to give Rough Diamonds a listen at some point but I'm definitely glad I listened to these five, even if I didn't love every minute of it. Overall, Bad Company might be a band that were more reliant on their hit singles than album quality but at least there's hidden gold to be found in the river of their first five albums. You won't waste all your time listening to them but at the same time they're no Queen, even if Paul Rodgers did try to join their band for a bit (remember Queen + Paul Rodgers? Come on, at least they tried to do something awesome).