Beggars & Thieves - The Grey Album | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../Images/b_tgrey.jpg) |
Label: MTM Records Producers: Beggars & Thieves Year: 1999 UK Distribution: Cargo Records Total Playing Time: 44:47 m:s Review date: 6 Sept 1999 |
| Web site: MTM Music
Email: | ||
| Rating: 7 | ||
| Verdict: A hit & miss affair | ||
| This is B&T's second outing on MTM and third overall. The purchase of this album was the result of some browsing in one of the local record stores. Sometimes it's nice just to walk in, have a look around, buy an album and not to have to wait days or even weeks for the postman to deliver your mail ordered purchase.
On this album B&T offer a bluesy funky style of Melodic Rock that is very aware of what is happening in the music scene at the moment. If The Rolling Stones or Aerosmith adopted a ultra modern approach then they would end up sounding up a lot like Beggars & Thieves. All this makes for a cocktail that isn't that easy for an old fashioned AOR-head like me to digest. I have to confess that initial listens to the album left me disappointed with my purchase. The album starts off with an uptempo Aerosmith style number, "Don't Call It Love", before moving onto the slower "Cost Ya Nothing To Love". "Complicate It" has a funky DRN feel. Big gun songwriter JIm Vallance has been brought onboard for a few numbers and this partnership yields one of the best song on the album - "Piece Of My Heart" which has a very Stones-like chorus. After than my interest declines - the slowish "Closer", blues & funk fuelled rocker "Party World", the uptempo "Faster", hard edged pop-rock of ""Beady Eyes", "XL XL" & "In-between" all fall into the nothing special category. The exception being "Done" which is a memorable slice of guitar driven pop. This album is difficult to categorise. It sits somewhere between many sub-genres of music - rock, alternative pop, post-grunge, melodic rock etc. B&T could well be at the forefront of Melodic Rock along with the likes of Harem Scarem pushing forward the boundaries and leading Melodic Rock into the new millennium, but whilst I'll be keen to find out where HS take us, I'm not sure that B&T will have the same effect. A hit & miss lump of blues rock or a sharp-edged slice of modern melodic music - a repeated listening regime may push you toward the later. My money says that the first one is the more likely outcome. | ||
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