Pink Cream 69
Electrified

I'm not hesitant to say that, with "Electrified," Pink Cream 69 found a second life: indeed, this album, like "Games People Play," can be considered one of their masterpieces.

The lineup remains unchanged from the already decent "Food For Thought" (namely David Readman on vocals, Dennis Ward on bass, Alfred Koffler on guitar, and Kosta Zafiriou on drums), which already showed a timid sign of recovery. Of course, after Food For Thought, no one expected an album like this! And indeed "Electrified," dated late 1998, reintroduces them as we had left them: with decidedly massive hard rock and a hint of power!

The opening is reserved for "Shame" (from which a video will be extracted), and the ideas are immediately clear: great rhythmic sequences, with a feeling that had been lost over time and especially a great performance by Readman, who even surpasses himself here! The song, by the way, is a staple in their live performances. The ending of Shame introduces the rocky "Stranger In Time", with a truly inspired Koffler and Ward's bass that beats more than Little Tony's crazy heart (when cholesterol surprises you take Imodium... hmm, I must have confused something!); "Break The Silence" is another excellent cadenced song that this time highlights Zafiriou's excellent drum work (especially at the level of double bass). "Electrified" reveals itself as one of the album's masterpieces: once again Readman puts his stamp on it, but what stands out most from this song is the especially the growing rhythm that is created from start to finish, with truly superb choruses! With "Over The Fire" PC 69 delve into the power territories so dear at the time, but fortunately, the song is not as trivial as it might have been: in fact, it contains a break in the central part that is nothing short of stunning and with Zafiriou utterly excellent behind the skins (among other things, in this song we find as backing vocals none other than DC Cooper ex-Royal Hunt and Ralf Sheepers from Primal Fear).

Midway through the album, we find ourselves again in hard rock territories with "Losing My Faith", a hard song with a semi-electronic intro that in some ways reminded me of the Def Leppard of "Pyromania". Excellent the ending with a solo acoustic guitar, entrusted to the usual Koffler. "Higher Kind Of Life" is another little hard rock gem, introduced by a monstrous riff, in which Koffler and Ward again set the tone. Next comes "Burn Your Soul", another masterpiece with a song that is nothing short of stunning: another Whitesnake-style hard rock truly heart-stopping, with tight rhythms and remarkably successful interweavings. We find ourselves towards the end with "Rocket Ride" and we are in even Badlands territory, with irresistible melodies and a more inspired Readman than ever. Koffler's solo is a guitar school and pure passion! "Best For You" is superb, and after an introspective beginning, it bursts in with a majestic break, made of beautiful choruses and with the entire rhythmic section creating harmonies that are nothing short of surprising (particularly between Koffler and Zafiriou this time), and with Readman's voice increasingly at ease. The album closes with the piano ballad with gospel choruses "Gone Again". There's a curiosity with the drunken version of the same song as a hidden track. Simply irresistible and also hilarious!

In conclusion, there's not much to say. "Electrified" is a masterpiece, period that, in my opinion, represents the hard rock of the late '90s. Recommended for all those who love this genre to the point of madness and also for those who are approaching it for the first time. But the career of Pink Cream 69 certainly doesn't stop here, and even at the beginning of the millennium, they will continue to give us, with only a few drops in tone, still high-quality products.