Bachman &
Turner
Rating: B
Fred Turner
and Randy Bachman have joined forces for the first time in
twenty years. Not only are they going to take their classic
back catalog back on the road; on September 7th they
are releasing a new album, simply titled Bachman & Turner.
The whole
thing started as an accident. Bachman was working on a new
project and wanted to feature a different vocalist on each
song. He called Fred Turner and it turns out Fred was
interested. Fred also had some material. The two kept talking,
listened to each other’s tunes and decided to give it a go.
While there is no “Takin’ Care of Business” or “Ain’t Seen
Nothin’ Yet,” there are plenty of summertime, top down, cruising
main street songs on the new album. “Rollin’ Along” starts
things off and sounds like the two men have been making music
together for the past 7,300 days, instead of being apart. Other
highlights include “That’s What It Is,” “Moonlight Rider,”
“Slave to the Rhythm,” “Can’t Go Back to Memphis,” “Traffic Jam”
and “Rock and Roll is the Only Way.” Just by the titles one can
tell that this music is true to the past.
The band
has not tried to be someone they are not so there is a tendency
to think that this music must sound tired. In places, depending
on your mood, I suppose there are a few clunkers that sound like
BTO rejects. But, overall, this is a fun album. It won’t
replace Not Fragile in your collection but it will
certainly add it to it.
