The Firm
The Firm

THE REVIEW

The year was 1984 and it was a lean time for two of the greatest artists in British musical history: Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and the lead singer of Free and Bad Company Paul Rodgers, both caught up in solo careers—mediocre for Jimmy and semi-unknown for Paul. Friends since childhood, the two found themselves jamming together and decided to "start a family," bringing into the group that would form under the name "Firm" the former Uriah Heep drummer and future Ac/Dc drummer Chris Slade, and the anonymous fretless player Tony Franklin.

But once again, what is considered a supergroup in musical history can leave a bitter taste. Indeed, it happened with Gtr, for some with Asia, for others with Coverdale Page, just to name a few. Usually, the typical scenario is this: a fan of both groups casually learns about the union in question (usually by reading an article or hearing it from a friend), and the first thing they say is, "Where have I been living until now not to know about this? I'm such a hopeless idiot! I’ll grab it right away." And in the end, they remain utterly disappointed. That's what happened to me when my esteemed music teacher informed me of the existence of the Firm back in 2006. The first thing I thought was, if the mind behind Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog teams up to write pieces with the author of All Right Now, Feel Like Makin Love and Wishing Well, what masterpieces have I missed until now? I'm such a hopeless idiot!"

After sweating it out to find the CD (which was brought to me from London by a kind soul), I too was greatly disappointed.

The sound of Firm is indeed quite powerful, but it often falls into the predictable or, worse still, the mediocre: in practice, most of the songs are neither fish nor fowl and fail to make a precise impact. Moreover, the whole is heavily influenced by the pop that served as a guiding genre in those years (I'm talking about classy pop though!), which yes, can be pleasant, but not when it involves two of the biggest stars of hard rock.

The noteworthy parts are indeed present: just listen to "Radioactive," a truly excellent track where Rodgers manages to bring out the best of himself, while Page expertly delights in arpeggios and strumming on acoustic and electric. Even the cover of the famous "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" (the one from Top Gun) turns out to be a pretty decent, classily arranged and catchy piece. But it's definitely "Satisfaction Guaranteed" that is the most fascinating song on the album, a semi-slow number that evokes Led Zeppelin atmospheres, marked by an unmistakable Rodgersian influence. Everything seems to approach perfection in this song: excellent vocal line, catchy chorus, and guitars worthy of the name of those who play them, all colored with a few strokes of keyboard, which never hurt.

The rest of the songs don't evoke much emotion; the album mainly stands on these three excellent performances, although I just can't restrain from highlighting the magical artistic and refined touch that the nasal sound of Tony Franklin's fretless bass brings, present in every song.

After the eponymous, the Firm recorded another rather mediocre album, "Mean Business", which had the same outcome as the first: few sales from a commercial point of view, but sold-out live shows in all performances.

So, if you weren't aware of this project, don't feel like a hopeless idiot... It's definitely worth a listen, if only for the big names behind this venture, but absolutely nothing more.

I know dedications can often seem mega-stupid, but I dedicate this review to the teacher and friend I mentioned before, because thanks to him I discovered a lot of amazing bands.