BERNIE MARSDEN - Shine (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Blues Rock / Melodic Rock

Label -

Track listing:

01. Linin' Track

02. Wedding Day

03. Walk Away

04. Kinda Wish She Would

05. Ladyfriend

06. Trouble

07. Who Do We Think We Are?

08. Bad Blood

09. Shine

10. Dragonfly

11. You Better Run

12. Hoxie Rollin' Time

13. Nw8

### The following review is not my work but I couldn't agree more so I reproduce it here. All credit to the original author ###

Ex Whitesnake guitarist BERNIE MARSDEN new album "Shine" to be released next August 18, explores a wide ranging musical horizon including a cleverly updated bluesy, slick AOR, kick ass boogie, riff driven and twin guitar rock, a steaming bluesy shuffle and a book-ended instrumental.
By his own admission "Shine" includes some stockpiled material, but it’s subtly shaped, polished and nicely sequenced by his former Alaska band member turned producer Rob Kass.

Recorded in studio 3 in Abbey Road (where the Beatles cut ‘Revolver’), "Shine" sparkles with confident songs, sumptuous guitar tones, potent harmonies, magisterial playing and Bernie’s best ever lead vocals.
Producer Rob Kass strikes the prefect balance between the album’s song driven focus and the possibilities that an array of guests – including David Coverdale, Jimmy Copley, Ian Paice, Don Airey Cherry Lee Mewis, Joe Bonamassa and Mark Feltham – and a big studio offers him.
"Shine" is a coherent album that plays to Bernie’s strengths. He’s always been a consummate guitarist and a prodigious songwriter, but a combination of different vocals textures injects the steely arrangements with style and gusto.

Listen for example, to the airy, west coast vocal sweep of Danny Kirwan’s "Dragonfly" – included here as an ode to Peter Green – and the standout title track. The Cream style vocal harmonies are underpinned by Ian Paice’s pounding stick work and topped by Don Airey’s keyboard riffs and Bonamassa’s scintillating solo. All the elements coalesce seamlessly as if building to a naturally defining moment on the track.
But this is such a well paced album that the final four tracks find their sequential place as part of an integral whole, before coming to rest on Bernie’s acoustic instrumental outro.

"Shine" opens with a sledgehammer groove of Leadbelly’s "Linin’ Track" which mirrors the song’s lyrical muscularity, while the hot picking on "Wedding Day" has a lively feel, as part of an enveloping production.
The kick ass boogie and ZZ Top influenced "Kinda Wish She Would" is effectively a counterweight as Bernie’s slightly distorted vocal gives the track an extra bit of edge on a riff driven rocker with huge radio potential.

My absolute favourite is the AOR, keyboard led "Walk Away" (awesome Don Airey) with its '80s keyboard motif, uplifting hook and catchy chorus. It's a sister track to the eco message and vocal tour de force "Who Do We Think We Are", a mid-tempo melodic rocker full of magic.

The guests all make their mark, as Mark Feltham’s lyrical harp line colours the extended groove of "Ladyfriend", as it smolders, sparkles and envelops you.
It sets things up nicely for the percussive reworking of "Trouble" predicated on David Coverdale guttural phrasing. Bernie has never been reticent to explore his back catalogue and he’s rarely bettered himself than on this blast from the past.
Cherry Lee Mewis adds gritty vocal contrast on the laid back blues-rocker "Bad Blood" and just when you think the whole album has run its course on the hook laden "You Better Run", Bernie launches himself into a dirt tone wah-wah inflected Americana shuffle "Hoxie Rollin’ Time", which is surely destined to become a live favourite.

Shine" is a career high for Bernie Marsden. 

It’s an album glued together by his own deeply embedded imprint of harmony driven songs with significant hooks and burning solos. It’s almost as if he’s successfully pursued his own mission statement of cutting a definitive solo album. It may have taken him 40 odd years but it’s been worth the wait.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating - 9/10

The Players

Bernie Marsden - Guitars, Vocals

Ian Paice - Drums

Don Airey - Keyboards 

Joe Bonamassa - Guitar

David Coverdale - Vocals

Jimmy Copley - Drums

Mark Feltham - Vocals, Harmonica

thanks to Pete Feenstra

Diesel - Into The Fire (2014)

Genre - Classic Rock / Hard Rock / Melodic Rock

Label - Escape Music

Track listing:

01 - Love Under Cover

02 - Into The Fire

03 - Starting Over

04 - Fortune Favors The Brave

05 - Brand New Day

06 - Bitter & Twisted

07 - So What Is Love

08 - Lets Take The Long Way Home

09 - Told You So

10 - What You See Ain’t What You Get

11 - Skin & Bone

12 - Coming Home

DIESEL is the new outfit comprising the creative talents of ex- Bad Company, current Manfred Mann's Earth Band and superb solo artist / singer Robert Hart and British AOR legends FM guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick, with Jimmy Copley (Jeff Beck Band) on drums and Pat Davey on bass.
As you could imagine, expect some classic English melodic hard rock within their debut album "Into The Fire", to be released by Escape Music.
Actually, Diesel sounds exactly like late '80s Bad Company meets FM, or vice versa, but with the addition of a classic rock feeling.
Listening to Hart's voice, you can hear why he was picked to front that iconic UK blues hard rock band. Couple his voice with the music of "Fortune Favors The Brave", "What You See Ain't What You Get" or "Brand New Day", and you might think you were listening to a Bad Company song, yet with less slow burning blues and more frisky Eighties melodic rock.
I love "Coming Home", the more AOR number on the disc with a lovable main melody.
Other songs sound like they could jump off the next FM album like the pulsating opener "Love Under Cover", the awesome midtempo "So What Is Love", or the sharp 'n rockin "Told You So" with some AOR in it. Most of this comes from Kirkpatrick's crack rock leads, but also his sense of groove and melody.
Then "Bitter & Twisted" flips both scenarios on their heads giving you a more dense Whitesnake bluesy hard rock feel. Hart might even be able to fill in for Coverdale in a clutch. Some of that blues feel can get harder as within "Skin & Bone", thanks to the ham-fisted riffs and deep bottom end.
Diesel’s first album "Into The Fire" is a great, solid piece of AOR-ish Melodic Hard Rock with a Classic Rock feeling, with equal focus on catchy melodies and outstanding musicianship.
Considering Robert Hart’s musical past, it seems logical that one subconsciously expects some traces of Bad Company’s style in here. But don't forget the man has released AOR oriented terrific solo albums as well, and Kirkpatrick knows 'something' of this game too. So we have the best of both worlds on "Into The Fire".
The greatest asset to this material, most probably, is that it portrays the musicians of Diesel as they succeed in striking a balance between the expected homage to musical tradition of their respective past (Bad Company, FM) and the contemporary AOR / melodic hard rock sound. The result is that their music is neither 'dated', nor modern – just a compromise between the two.
All songs are good, the playing pretty darn terrific (with Kirkpatrick generous with his spry leads) and the production crisp and warm.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating - 9/10