  Frontiers/BAM
A seventies oozing album that is actually to my liking? History in making? CALIFORNIA BREED is the moniker chosen by Glenn Hughes, bass/vocals, Andrew Watt, guitars, and Jason Bonham, drums. The careers of Messrs Hughes and Bonham are probably well known enough, Andrew was introduced to the pair and they obviously clicked. Some might say this is a way of keeping a now defunked band alive, but I won’t even mention the name as I like this one better.
Never ever under estimate the voice of rock! He might have been drugged out, fat, unreliable, wailing beyond belief, producing crap albums, but there is always the TALENT. As “The Way” rolled out I was completely hooked. The elements of SABBATH, maybe even RUSH meet the vocal legend and it swings beyond belief. The song is good but the vocals lift it beyond any expectations. The video song “Sweet Tea” might have an almost hippie title but the arrangements rule and Andrew will surely break as a guitarist after this. This album has elements of stalwarts of bygone times, they might also hint a bit at SOUNDGARDEN (in “Chemical Rain”, the ultimate drug abuse song), WHITESNAKE (Back in the day during the Moody/Marsden era in “Scars”) and of cause the seventies styles of Glenn himself. There is pace changes (“The Grey”), style changes as, a bit cheakily, I could describe “Spit You Out” as NIRVANA progresses into THUNDER, and the many spaced out dope smoking style (no such stuff is the air around the band though) of about half the songs. Another fines track is “Days They Come”, which is something of Glenn´s personal take on bygone days in DEEP PURPLE, with a smashing update to the 21th century though. It is actually better than most on “Now What?!”. I normally sneer at all the bands trying to capitalize on others past seventies glories...but this is actually a fantastic up to date version by the man himself...a true survivors return to form!
Track lIst
The Way
Sweet Tea
Chemical Rain
Midnight Oil
All Falls Down
The Grey
Days They Come
Spit You Out
Strong
Invisible
Scars
Breathe
www.frontiers.it www.californiabreed.com
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