Review:

on 2011-02-20 CharlesMartel Said:

Although this is a slightly better album than their first offering, I feel that there was a missed opportunity here. Their debut album had an almost live sound about it, whereas on this one they went for the more conventional studio album formula, complete with production, post production and the like. Had they stuck to the same style, this may well have been a much finer album, possibly even one of the best of its genre. The blues rock heart is there in the music. It is just that it is in the process of having the guts torn out of it by being given the proper studio make over.

The truth is that, by the time "Straight Shooter" was released, Bad Company had pretty much achieved all they had set out to do when they formed. They had cracked the American market. Rogers et al may be derided for their lack of ambition, but their record company would have loved them for it. They had achieved commercial success: their songs were given plenty of air time (advertising) on major US radio stations: they could tour pretty much non stop in huge arenas: and they were up there with the greats. The faith shown in Paul Rogers grand project had been vindicated. The band were a success. They were making loads of dosh. Who cared if they weren't Led Zeppelin.

Of all the songs on the album, "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Shooting Star" stand out. The former was released as a single and got some minor airplay at the time in the UK but much more in the US. The latter is a ballad about the toll which drugs and drink take on those in the spotlight and could be the life story of any number of musicians, from Hendrix to Bonham, who burned brightly and then snuffed out their lives. I always tend to associate it the fraudulent rubbish which permeated British radio at the time, bands like Kenny and Bay City Rollers, both of whom were creations of the mainstream record companies and discarded, like worn out jeans, the hapless kids they had used, once they were no longer making money off their backs.

Other than that, there are a fair number of weaker tracks. "Deal with the Preacher" is perhaps one of the better ones, but realistically, none of them were really of any great quality. And boy, were there a couple of duds thrown in for good measure. "Anna" is just plain awful - a soppy ballad which does not suit the style of Bad Company, and proves they cannot carry off the slower stuff as well as other bands of the era. This was perhaps their biggest drawback. While they tried to mimic Zeppelin, they could never capture that band's ability to slow it down and still sound like they were making music from the soul.

However, all things considered, it is listenable and enjoyable up to a point, provided it is not listened to too frequently, I suppose. Beyond that it has little to offer. Don't assume that you will get any great insights or revelations out of this music. And don't assume that you will be listening to anything ground-breaking. In my mind it is the band's best album, but it all could have been so much better. If I had to describe it simply, I would call it Pub Rock. Says it all. Bad Company went rapidly downhill after this. They tried changing their style with the next album and it simply didn't satisfy the doubters or the fan base they had built up with the first two albums.
Rating: 7/10