Album Review: Bad Company - Live 1977 & 1979

With Bad Company Live 1977 & 1979, the band’s classic lineup is finally represented on an in-concert album.

Culled from shows recorded May 23, 1977, in Houston, and March 9, 1979, in London - plus a deliciously grimy cover of Jimi Hendrix’s arrangement of “Hey Joe” from June ‘79 in D.C. - the two-CD set includes 30 tracks and more than two-and-a-half hours of vintage 1970s hard rock. And this being a ‘70s live album, there are not one, but two (thankfully short), drum solos herein.

The set is a mix of tired, played-out hits such as “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Shooting Star” - in which Johnny is mesmerized by “Here Comes the Sun” rather than “Love Me Do” - and album tracks such as “Burnin’ Sky,” “Heartbeat,” “Gone, Gone, Gone,” “Live for the Music” and “Rock Steady.”

As good as it was and is, Bad Company’s music isn’t timeless and it’s beginning to show its age in 2016. Unlike other bands from their era, such as Led Zeppelin or even Black Sabbath, Bad Company doesn’t seem destined to draw in new generations of listeners, nor does its music seem likely to survive long after its core followers are gone.

But the original Bad Company lineup - vocalist Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell - did what they did really well and they’re at the top of their game on Live 1977 & 1979. Rodgers, one of the strongest pure singers of the rock era, and Kirke are particularly strong in the onstage environment.

Had this album been released in its day, it would have been a mega-selling classic. Now, 39 years after the fact, it’s simply a nice reminder of a bygone era and one of its most melodic hard-rock bands.

Grade card: Bad Company - Live 1977 & 1979 - B-

Song Reviews: Bad Company - “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” (Live)/Ace Frehley feat. Paul Stanley - “Fire and Water” (Free cover)

Believe it or not, Bad Company has never issued a live album.

That’ll change April 29, when the band releases Bad Company Live in Concert 1977 & 1979, a double-live set featuring two concerts.

Based on the March 29, 1979, version of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” from the album, the original Bad Company was quite adept at recreating its studio recordings on stage. This rendition, save for a few vocal inflections by singer extraordinaire Paul Rodgers, sounds just like the version on Desolation Angels. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective on what live performance should be.

Either way, it’s a safe bet Bad Company will sound much different when they hit the road this spring with Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke - who also comprised one-half of the pre-Bad Company band Free - as the only remaining original members. Former Black Crowe Rich Robinson is filling in for guitarist Mick Ralphs, who opted out after the tour was scheduled; original bassist Boz Burrell died in 2006.

“I wanted to slightly berate (Ralphs), ‘What the heck!,’” Rodgers told Billboard. “But he sounded so bad. He really wasn’t up to it.”

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Speaking of Free, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley remade that band’s 1970 track “Fire and Water” for his covers album, Origins Vol. 1, which is due April 15.

“Fire and Water” reunites the original Spaceman - KISS has a new one now - and the Star Child (Paul Stanley) for the first time in nearly two decades and the results are mixed.

Musically, the track is fine - even pretty good - with gritty guitars mimicking Paul Kossoff’s bluesy, original riffs. But even great singers have a tough time replicating the inimitable Rodgers’ vocal stylings. And Stanley is anything but a great singer.

“Everyone who’s heard it thinks it’s the shit,” Frehley said of Stanley’s vocal performance, as reported by Rollingstone.com.

Take out the the, and Frehley’s summed up Sound Bites’ sentiments precisely.

Grade card:

• Bad Company - “Rock 'n’ Roll Fantasy” (Live) - B

• Ace Frehley feat. Paul Stanley - “Fire and Water” - C-