BAD COMPANY: DESOLATION ANGELS (1979)
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.
Surprise! Just as you started to think it could
never ever get better, the Bad Company boys make one last concentrated effort.
Perhaps even the band members themselves were so horrified with the apathy and
facelessness of Burnin' Sky — Desolation Angels at least sounds as if
somebody gave them a much-needed cold shower.
I know the idea of Bad Company doing disco
sounds horrendous on paper, and that their decision to hop on the train during
disco's last profitable year reveals agonizing desperation, but ʽRhythm
Machineʼ is not utterly trashable as far as trashable disco goes: its
chunka-chunka bassline does not take the attention away from triple guitar
parts, with Ralphs alternating catchy slide lines and razor-sharp electric
leads over a rhythmic jangle. If you can get past such amazing showcases of
lyrical genius as "I'm a rhythm machine, you know what I mean" (not
exactly atypical for disco hits), the thing almost counts as a breath of fresh
air in the context of the ultra-stale BC formula.
The band did not dare to release the song as a
single, though, probably afraid of losing the truck driver segment of their
audience without picking up the «Tony Manero» group. They went with
ʽRock'n'Roll Fantasyʼ instead, which became their last certified big hit — and
also represented a weak effort to catch up with the times: Ralphs is playing
electronically treated, «cold-hearted» guitars, giving the whole thing a little
bit of a «Cars» attitude. Why they decided to further «embellish» the song
with silly-sounding electronic percussion bursts that punctuate the breaks is
not clear. Or, rather, it is quite clear, but I am not sure it works in any way
other than utterly comic. But remember, one reason why Burnin' Sky sucked so much was its total lack of humor, intentional
or not. Even a good laugh at the band's antics automatically makes Desolation Angels an improvement, if
not exactly a proper «comeback».
There is also a feel of increased diversity,
something the band never displayed as a cherished value before. Besides disco
and «electronized» pseudo-New Wave rock'n'roll (the second single, ʽGone Gone
Goneʼ, also belongs to the same category), there is also a touch of basic country-rock
— the unexpectedly catchy ʽOh, Atlantaʼ, which I really like in all possible
ways: upbeat, bouncy, lyrically simple, but non-moronic, cool singalong
vocals: «poor man's Allman Brothers», which really sounds like a great
compliment for the band.
And, of course, a couple traditional varieties
of the band's hard rock spirit: another spin-off from the pub boogie of ʽCan't
Get Enoughʼ (ʽLonely For Your Loveʼ, perfect for stomping your beer mug on the
table) and another metal-tinged blues-rock growler (ʽEvil Windʼ, also «spoiled»
a bit with the band's strange new passion for electronic percussion). The soft,
folksy numbers are nothing to write home about, but ʽEarly In The Morningʼ
could almost be worthy of a contemporary Eric Clapton solo record — not that this
should be a reason for rejoicing.
In any case, the album puts the band at an
interesting crossroads: the incorporation of synthesizers, disco rhythms, and
a puff of New Wave spirit does not disrupt the continuity — this is still very
much a bona fide Bad Company record — and points a possible way at a marginally
respectable future. Why they preferred not to pursue it any further is beyond
my comprehension. Maybe Paul Rodgers got cornered by one of the truck drivers.
Maybe they experienced a nervous breakdown seeing the «disco sucks» campaign unfurl
at the very moment that they came forward with their first experiment in the
genre. May be a million other reasons — the fact is, this is the only point in
the «listenable» part of their timeline that they had a good chance to modernize
their sound and remain relevant for the next decade. Then again, does it really
surprise anyone that they ended up blowing it?
Check "Desolation Angels" (MP3) on Amazon
Evil Wind only shows that there is not much difference between monotonous blues-rock and disco. The only relevant difference with Rhythm Machine I notice is that the first has a riff - and a pretty cool one. That riff is repeated endlessly though.
ReplyDeleteThe drum pattern at the other hand is exactly the same.
A big plus of both songs is that BC finally plays a little faster than the strict and lame midtempo of the previous records.
After getting off the bus at the "Burnin' Sky" terminal, and spending a few aimless hours out in the hot dusty wilderness, most fans tend to welcome the opportunity to get back on to a slightly modernized new vehicle with air conditioning and a few nice amenities. It's still a Greyhound rather than a fancy celebrity cruiser, but it's nice to know Bad Co. does make some attempts on this album to modernize its sound for a loyal audience that's simply had enough of the mid-tempo bar room blahs. So, I'll take "Desolation Angels" for what it is, and consider it the last Bad Co. product worth owning.
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