Bridge the Gap
Bridge the Gap
In-Akustik
2013
Michael Schenker – such a talented guy and too often he managed to fuck it all up... but that makes it all the more human. He’s a guitar God, only unlike all these “Gods” that are almighty and all-powerful and can do no wrong, he ain’t nothing like that, he’s more like the old Greek and Roman Gods, who were really mischievous sons of bitches who always got in trouble. Thankfully, as of late, he seems to have gotten a bit on a straight, clean path, which seems to have done miracles for his albums and his performances that seemed to suffer a lot from his drinking and passions. Which is good news in general! Good for him I guess and good for what reaches our ears!
I glad to report, that after the rather good, but maybe somewhat uneven “Temple of Rock”, Michael opted to go for his EU touring lineup of Francis Buchholz, Wayne Findlay, Herman Rarebell & Doogie White as a backing band and they seems to be a nice little productive unit that has churned out, a quite impressive album, that actually all of the “previous” employers of the various alumni of this band, might actually and secretly be envious of!
Take the best Ingredients of MSG, UFO, Rainbow and The Scorps and if you stir them real well and install one Doogie White as the singer, this is what you get… a well Crauted, Britanic, Rock Beast with some guitar melodies that are so good would probably make good ole Blackmore, start squirming in his medieval king-size double-bed next to Candice! That’s how good they are (obviously I’m joking about this bit, we ain’t got bedroom eyes in his blackness’ bed chambers or we’d be selling the video! Joking again!)
Doogie and Michael have allegedly done, most of the writing between them, but I’m pretty sure the rest of the band must have contributed some too, at least their parts... Schenker and Voss have produced the album to a great standard, as expected... but let’s take a closer look to the songs, shouldn’ we?
“Neptune Rising” this overture like opening instrumental, is a little reminiscent of a much heavier ABBA initially until, Schenker decides to really hit the strings hard, and allegedly was written, as Michael was looking at Wayne Findlay and thinking how he reminded him of Neptune, with his huge beard and all, to the point that they decided to have a Trident guitar made for him! (hahaha, are we sure, that Michael’s not back on heavy drinking!?)
“Where the Wild Winds Blow” is the proper opener then, with a really heavy barrage of riffs driving it, and an epic air, that really recalls the best of British epic rock. Surely a classic that will be totally featured heavily in future concerts.
“Horizons” is a sweeping, fast paced, melodic number with some pretty cool drumming courtesy of Herman Rarebell. It sounds a little a more commercial Rainbow (JLT era) tune, but it’s more epic at the same time.
“Lord of The Lost and Lonely” is simple jaw dropping amazing. I hope this could have been a Rainbow song. It has all the staples of a cool Dio era, Rainbow song and Doogie, sings one of the coolest choruses you’ve heard in a while…. “Magic” lives... you see... Doogie was one of the few people that “got his job” that Ronnie actually seemed to like quite a bit… he pretty much didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the rest back in the day!
“Rock n’ Roll Symphony” is one of those slightly more boring… raise your hands – in the name of rock ‘n roll, cause we all love this type of music…! OK... next time, I should try that strategy when approaching a girl. Hey honey, we both like Elvis – do you want to sleep with me now?! Lol! Hahaha! (*The king is a completely random choice!)
“To Live for the King” is not a Kerry Livgren cover, (one of those songs that Dio had sung coincidentally) as I initially had suspected, by gazing at the title, but a slow and heavy original, with some nice harmonies and a pretty cool chorus ! It’s a bit about how the stage becomes one with the performer and you can’t do, without it...
“Land of Thunder” is a really great rocker with awesome riffs and Doogie mailing in a more assaulting performance – when he actually sings more aggressively Doogie seems to come across like well himself, and a cross between I guess Dio and Biff Byford, mostly inclined on the latter, however, just with a bit more gravel in the voice. It’s a pretty cool song!
“Temple of the Holy” – Good lord, so long as it wasn’t “of the King”, accusations of plagiarism, could be kept hushed, hehe. This one is a slow and sensational song, with almost “christian” lyrics (?) and the guitars quite inconceivably high in the mix running through the entirety of the track, it’s not bad, but it’s a little idiosyncratic.
“Shine On” is more interesting with is intricate melodies and White’s regal performance, it’s a slow and really majestic song that while it feels sort of distant and defiant manages to become quite endearing.
“Bridges We Have Burned” dwells on a theme previously used on the album that it paraphrases for its intro before it changes completely into a pretty dramatic track with deep lyrics that seem pretty desperate, until almost the very end…
“Because You Lied” for me was a bit of a filler. Apart from the nice idea on the guitar, it’s a bit of a simple song about betrayal... but then there are a lot of better ones on the subject. Sorry! Dud!
“Black Moon Rising” is yet another cool tune in medium tempo, with nice expressive melodies and vocals, but a certain lyric made me remember of one of Doogie’s bands Cornerstone and got me thinking if they are still a going concern or not… I mean if he’s managed to resurrect La Paz… it would definitely be a crying shame to have Cornerstone laid to rest.
“Dance for the Piper” is the normal album closer, although the special edition features an extra bonus track and it’s a driving rocker that has some slight Celtic influence and proudly closes the album defiantly… also giving a promise that somehow there will also be a next time as the last man standing is holding the banners high…
Overall a really enjoyable hard rocking album from one of the greatest modern guitar players ever, with a team of players around him that’s worthy of him, good solid songwriting that often reaches quality that in time could attain the stamp and status of classic... What more could you ask for really ?! Other than More?! Soon please!
I glad to report, that after the rather good, but maybe somewhat uneven “Temple of Rock”, Michael opted to go for his EU touring lineup of Francis Buchholz, Wayne Findlay, Herman Rarebell & Doogie White as a backing band and they seems to be a nice little productive unit that has churned out, a quite impressive album, that actually all of the “previous” employers of the various alumni of this band, might actually and secretly be envious of!
Take the best Ingredients of MSG, UFO, Rainbow and The Scorps and if you stir them real well and install one Doogie White as the singer, this is what you get… a well Crauted, Britanic, Rock Beast with some guitar melodies that are so good would probably make good ole Blackmore, start squirming in his medieval king-size double-bed next to Candice! That’s how good they are (obviously I’m joking about this bit, we ain’t got bedroom eyes in his blackness’ bed chambers or we’d be selling the video! Joking again!)
Doogie and Michael have allegedly done, most of the writing between them, but I’m pretty sure the rest of the band must have contributed some too, at least their parts... Schenker and Voss have produced the album to a great standard, as expected... but let’s take a closer look to the songs, shouldn’ we?
“Neptune Rising” this overture like opening instrumental, is a little reminiscent of a much heavier ABBA initially until, Schenker decides to really hit the strings hard, and allegedly was written, as Michael was looking at Wayne Findlay and thinking how he reminded him of Neptune, with his huge beard and all, to the point that they decided to have a Trident guitar made for him! (hahaha, are we sure, that Michael’s not back on heavy drinking!?)
“Where the Wild Winds Blow” is the proper opener then, with a really heavy barrage of riffs driving it, and an epic air, that really recalls the best of British epic rock. Surely a classic that will be totally featured heavily in future concerts.
“Horizons” is a sweeping, fast paced, melodic number with some pretty cool drumming courtesy of Herman Rarebell. It sounds a little a more commercial Rainbow (JLT era) tune, but it’s more epic at the same time.
“Lord of The Lost and Lonely” is simple jaw dropping amazing. I hope this could have been a Rainbow song. It has all the staples of a cool Dio era, Rainbow song and Doogie, sings one of the coolest choruses you’ve heard in a while…. “Magic” lives... you see... Doogie was one of the few people that “got his job” that Ronnie actually seemed to like quite a bit… he pretty much didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the rest back in the day!
“Rock n’ Roll Symphony” is one of those slightly more boring… raise your hands – in the name of rock ‘n roll, cause we all love this type of music…! OK... next time, I should try that strategy when approaching a girl. Hey honey, we both like Elvis – do you want to sleep with me now?! Lol! Hahaha! (*The king is a completely random choice!)
“To Live for the King” is not a Kerry Livgren cover, (one of those songs that Dio had sung coincidentally) as I initially had suspected, by gazing at the title, but a slow and heavy original, with some nice harmonies and a pretty cool chorus ! It’s a bit about how the stage becomes one with the performer and you can’t do, without it...
“Land of Thunder” is a really great rocker with awesome riffs and Doogie mailing in a more assaulting performance – when he actually sings more aggressively Doogie seems to come across like well himself, and a cross between I guess Dio and Biff Byford, mostly inclined on the latter, however, just with a bit more gravel in the voice. It’s a pretty cool song!
“Temple of the Holy” – Good lord, so long as it wasn’t “of the King”, accusations of plagiarism, could be kept hushed, hehe. This one is a slow and sensational song, with almost “christian” lyrics (?) and the guitars quite inconceivably high in the mix running through the entirety of the track, it’s not bad, but it’s a little idiosyncratic.
“Shine On” is more interesting with is intricate melodies and White’s regal performance, it’s a slow and really majestic song that while it feels sort of distant and defiant manages to become quite endearing.
“Bridges We Have Burned” dwells on a theme previously used on the album that it paraphrases for its intro before it changes completely into a pretty dramatic track with deep lyrics that seem pretty desperate, until almost the very end…
“Because You Lied” for me was a bit of a filler. Apart from the nice idea on the guitar, it’s a bit of a simple song about betrayal... but then there are a lot of better ones on the subject. Sorry! Dud!
“Black Moon Rising” is yet another cool tune in medium tempo, with nice expressive melodies and vocals, but a certain lyric made me remember of one of Doogie’s bands Cornerstone and got me thinking if they are still a going concern or not… I mean if he’s managed to resurrect La Paz… it would definitely be a crying shame to have Cornerstone laid to rest.
“Dance for the Piper” is the normal album closer, although the special edition features an extra bonus track and it’s a driving rocker that has some slight Celtic influence and proudly closes the album defiantly… also giving a promise that somehow there will also be a next time as the last man standing is holding the banners high…
Overall a really enjoyable hard rocking album from one of the greatest modern guitar players ever, with a team of players around him that’s worthy of him, good solid songwriting that often reaches quality that in time could attain the stamp and status of classic... What more could you ask for really ?! Other than More?! Soon please!