Customer Reviews

Black Country Communion

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Black Country Commnion is, perhaps still prematurely, my #1 album of the year. Holy smokes. I've never heard Joe Bonamossa before but this guy is not only an incredible blues guitarist and rock guitarist, but he is also a great soulful blues singer. His technique reminded me at times of Blackmore. Glenn has never been in better voice. There is this one moment on the second track that I just keep rewinding and rewinding. (2:45 into track 2 -- listen to it.) You can tell the album was heavily improvised but there are these moments where Glenn truly does shatter expectations with his note choices and awesome phrasing.

Jason Bonham is sounding great, perhaps better than on any previous album, and Derek Sherinian provides organ to make everything a little more "Purple". The best part of the album though is the bass sound. You can hear the richness of Glenn's tone so clearly. Production by Kevin Shirley is impecable as usual. I love the bass tone though. Wow.

Best tracks: All of them. Not a weak song in the bunch. But I keep coming back to "Black Country" (almost Rush/Maiden-like at times) and the very Hughes "One Last Soul".

Buy this if you are into vintage Purple, Sabbath, old-school Coverdale, Trapeze, or Budgie. Outstanding job!

i have to disagree with the other review. i found this album excellent, i am from the 60'/70's, so i enjoy this style of rock. great guitar riffs throughout, vocals are strong, slightly rough, just like they should be for the style. every song has grit, no filler songs here. this music represents the music of the past, the greatest era in rock. check out their music, well worth the effort, cause this isn't the computerized crap you have on the radio today. maybe that is why he did not like it, to raw.

I like short reviews.
I would suggest getting the album just for one song: "Song of Yesterday".
Perhaps the best song of 2010.
Joe Bonamassa's solo in this tune is already one of the top 10 studio solos I have listened to. And I have listened to such a lot. It is unescapable for any blues/rock Hendrix/Zeppelin/Purple/Gary Moore fan of power solos.
The rest of the album is good too, but sometimes Glenn is just there a little too much.
Thanks for reading.

Black Country Commnion is my #1 album of 2010. Holy smokes. I've never heard Joe Bonamossa before but this guy is not only an incredible blues guitarist and rock guitarist, but he is also a great soulful blues singer. His technique reminded me at times of Blackmore. Glenn has never been in better voice. There is this one moment on the second track that I just keep rewinding and rewinding. (2:45 into track 2 -- listen to it.) You can tell the album was heavily improvised but there are these moments where Glenn truly does shatter expectations with his note choices and awesome phrasing.

Jason Bonham is sounding great, perhaps better than on any previous album, and Derek Sherinian provides organ to make everything a little more "Purple". The best part of the album though is the bass sound. You can hear the richness of Glenn's tone so clearly. Production by Kevin Shirley is impecable as usual. I love the bass tone though. Wow.

Best tracks: All of them. Not a weak song in the bunch. But I keep coming back to "Black Country" (almost Rush/Maiden-like at times) and the very Hughes "One Last Soul".

Buy this if you are into vintage Purple, Sabbath, old-school Coverdale, Trapeze, or Budgie. Outstanding job!

Black Country Commnion was my #1 album of 2010. Holy smokes. I've never heard Joe Bonamossa before but this guy is not only an incredible blues guitarist and rock guitarist, but he is also a great soulful blues singer. His technique reminded me at times of Blackmore. Glenn has never been in better voice. There is this one moment on the second track that I just keep rewinding and rewinding. (2:45 into track 2 -- listen to it.) You can tell the album was heavily improvised but there are these moments where Glenn truly does shatter expectations with his note choices and awesome phrasing.

Jason Bonham is sounding great, perhaps better than on any previous album, and Derek Sherinian provides organ to make everything a little more "Purple". The best part of the album though is the bass sound. You can hear the richness of Glenn's tone so clearly. Production by Kevin Shirley is impecable as usual. I love the bass tone though. Wow.

Best tracks: All of them. Not a weak song in the bunch. But I keep coming back to "Black Country" (almost Rush/Maiden-like at times) and the very Hughes "One Last Soul".

There's also the bonus DVD to consider, just your typical DVD with interviews, rehearsal footage, in-studio stuff, etc. Great if you're interested in these guys and what brought them together.

Buy this if you are into vintage Purple, Sabbath, old-school Coverdale, Trapeze, or Budgie. Outstanding job!

5 stars -- new album due June 2011!

Some very solid melodies, and a really nice variety of styles. If you're expecting a Joe Bonna-whatever-his-name-is-solo-album, forget it. Good, hard rock songs is what you'll get.

I stopped writing reviews a long time ago because I am getting disappointed by some stupid reviews on this site.
I am talking about the review of J. Doran "Beejayca". You don't trash an album because you hate one of the performers. Your review is not helpful for the people who like the artist and want to know if they should buy the album. If you're a grinch, find another way of bitching.
And another thing. Rock music is not pop music where things are coming in and out of date. Especially the music from the early 70ies when the most of the best music was created in this genre. In pop music, it was Britney Spears yesterday, Katy Perry today and something else tomorrow. If this is what you like, don't write reviews for classical hard rock albums.
I think that the album deserves 4 stars but because of the above mentioned pathetic review the stars became 5.

If you're a fan of straight ahead, 70's-style hard rock, Black Country Communion will be a treat Cool tunes, well played that will immediately call to mind the likes of Zep and Purple. Nothing earth shattering, just comfort food for aging long hairs. Good for a long drive.

As a huge fan of the individual members, especially Joe, I was expecting something a lot better than this. I've played this cd a few times, really trying to give it a fair chance, I want to like it, but can't.
Glenn Hughes is a great vocalist when he chooses to sing, but his screaming on many of these songs is hard to take. Joe's vocals are great, but he only sings on about four or five songs, and usually with Glenn. Most of the songs are forgettable, after a few listens I only liked four and a half songs out of the twelve.
Good stuff: (there are some) One Last Soul, a great song with Glenn doing the vocals, the best he sings on this cd - no screaming.
Song of Yesterday and Revolution In Me, with Joe doing most of the vocals, two standout tracks, sounds much like Joe's solo work.
Sista Jane, another good song with Glenn on vocals.
Too Late For The Sun, (over 11 minutes) reminds me a bit of Robin Trower for the first five minutes, then there's a very irritating repitition instrumental rythym for over four minutes before finishing with a two minute guitar solo. This would have been much better as a seven minute song.
Many of Joe's guitar solos sound more like Eric Johnson. OK, but I'd rather hear him sound like Joe Bonamassa.
Now I'll go listen to some Joe Bonamassa or vintage Deep Purple.

All Banshee (read: hysterical woman) wails and screaming. Bumble bee guitar soloing without a lick of melody or finese. Tired old heavy rock that was out of date back in the early 70s or rather the worst of that era as there certainly was a lot of fine music at that time. I always thought that Paul Rodgers was the, "Voice of Rock" but I guess a third rate screamer can claim that simply because he ruined Deep Purple and Black Sabbath by being in them. This is the kind of rawk that gives you a migrain. Simply put, if you like a lot of noise and screaming with no melody or soul this is the junk for you. It's pitiful!! Don't even waste the download bandwidth, it ain't worth it. Hopefully it'll die a quick death, it deserves that at least.