Bad Company
Company Of Strangers

Beautiful cover. Showy, yet classy, just like the classy music it introduces. The discography of Bad Company is divided into three phases, each marked by the great singers who have been part of the group.

The first phase goes from 1974 to 1982, as a four-member band with Paul Rodgers on the microphone, producing six highly successful studio albums. The second phase is the restart of 1986, initially as a quartet but soon after as a trio without a permanent bassist, releasing another four albums until 1992, with Brian Howe as the lead vocalist, a notable AOR interpreter. The third phase includes two studio releases in 1995 and 1996, and the album under review is the first of these. The band is a quintet (with an additional second guitarist), and the singer is Robert Hart.

He is a magnificent clone of Paul Rodgers, making the "phase 3" of Bad Company quite similar to "phase 1". You know Rodgers, right? He's the one who inexplicably ended up with Queen, despite having a very different style and tone from the late Mercury. Not very famous in Italy, Rodgers is an institution in the UK (the British prime minister’s favorite singer) and around the world, epitomizing the warm yet gritty rock blues voice. Robert Hart sings like him, divinely with the great agility of a true blues singer, full of breathtaking nuances (nuances, as the Anglo-Saxons say). He joined the group after a couple of solo outings in the early ‘90s, which were decent but not unmissable, here his talent unfolds effectively, supported by traveling companions who know a great deal about compositional and performance skills.

Indeed, the heart of Bad Company, for all the band's albums, including this one, is that great guitarist who goes by the name of Mick Ralphs. Belonging to the kind who don't do shows, who aren't handsome, who don't "wear" the instrument in a cool way, he is to be appreciated for what he does NOT play, meaning the effectiveness of his playing lies in its essentiality, taste, and clarity of ideas.
Just start the CD to realize it after a few seconds. The album-title track starts with a mid-tempo acoustic riff, upon which Ralphs layers a savory, rounded, resonant slide after a few bars. These are only four notes, but they are the right ones, long, warm, welcoming the great voice of Robert Hart and electric rhythm for a balanced, dense, mature song. The album unfolds over twelve other tracks, occasionally there's a ballad, but the best parts are the rock ones, titled "Clearwater Highway", "Gimme Gimme", "Down Down Down". Hart can also scream when needed.

Almost pure rock blues then, but there's a hint of pop, and I think it's the right dose, a "spice" to make the listening more appetizing, in my opinion.