Smith/Kotzen- "Smith/Kotzen"

The duet nobody expected.A man and his voice raised on an equal diet of funk rock and hard rock, MrRichie Kotzen (MR BIG, POISON, WINERY DOGS) and the man responsible for some of the most  classic heavy metal songs, Adrian Smith (IRON MAIDEN,A.S.A.P) joined forces in a common album. When I listened to the first single, I did not appreciate it much. A bit more heavy for my Kotzen taste (i'm consider myself a big fan, having almost everything he has released especially as a solo artist). But then the album came out, i understood, "Taking my chances' was not  the most conventional piece of music. A bit more MR BIG than expected , still a great opener. It was 'Running '' the second song in the album where the blues rear its ugly head. A monstrous bass line and soloing over the Kotzen led vocals ,  gave me the chills as the album started to take off . 'Scars' supposed to be the ballad Smith/Kotzen had in their minds with some echoes of MAIDEN inside it but another blues/Southern based delivery with guitars honoring Stevie Ray Vaughan and. Gary Moore  with a touch of Tommy Bolin, while the vocals are so reminiscent of Glen Hughes that I think is the missing part to this collaboration. "You dont know me" is a heavy rocker that has the Smith fingerprint all over it, yet the Kotzen solo, makes this heavy rocker a bit funkier.

 

 

The album is a blues rock beast, with both vocals and guitar lines being exchanged between the two musicians with no trace of primadona behaviour. "I wanna stay" is another fine example of modern heavy rock blues anthem, that combines both musicians' creative force and sounds unique and attractive to any decent rock fan.On the contrary they both melt their vocal deliveries and guitar abilities for the sake of the songs. The most powerful element is that both musicians offer some great songs. They sing and let the album and the songs breathe without fearing to let their hair down and get lost in some really tasteful soloing. But it is a song album and not a shredding contest. Kotzen is a bit on his heavier /blues side and Smith is letting himself trade licks in the blues style  away from the MAIDEN'S double,triple guitar attack/harmonies. At the end of the day ,this is an album of heavy rock,blues based rock that initiates the expectations for a second work and even more different approaches.Both musicians seem to enjoy it and in my eyes it is a winner and one of those collaborations that really succeed in the ears of the listener.

 

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