Bad Company

Bad Company's second record was every bit the commercial success of its predecessor, thanks to the inclusion of two of the group's signature songs, the archetypal hard rock power ballads "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Shooting Star," an ode to the early and tragic deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. For his part, Paul Rodgers remains the ultimate cock-rock frontman, with his "uh-huh" asides and melodic but ever masculine voice. Former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs offers the greatest evidence of why this band fit right in on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label.

Among the members of Bad Company, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke
witnessed the collapse of Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs witnessed the collapse of Mick Ralphs
in Mott the Hoople and bassist Boz Burrell participated in King Crimson's stagnation. In the
aftermath of their extraordinarily popular debut LP of last year, Bad Company appears
determined not to fall into the traps of any of those groups. While retaining all of... More >

This rocks even more consistently than Bad Co., but to argue that it epitomizes hard rock as a style is not only to overlook its deliberate speed but to believe in one's (usually male) heart that Paul Rodgers is the ideal rock singer. You hear that a lot; what it seems to mean is that he doesn't shriek when he gets to the loud parts. Rodgers's power is no more interesting than Tom Jones's, and Jones is twice as subtle. If hard rock doesn't have more to offer, it's not worth arguing about. (Grade: B-)