Those who lived through the late ’80s will remember a moment in time when heavy metal and hard rock reached such a fever pitch, that every record label, manager, and agent behind the scenes were SCRAMBLING to put together any unoccupied rockers they could find into a supergroup. Amidst this groundswell of bands were Blue Murder, Damn Yankees, Bad English, and the subject of today’s review, Mr. Big. Consisting of Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert, Talas/David Lee Roth bassist Billy Sheehan, journeyman drummer Pat Torpey, and AOR singer Eric Martin, Mr. Big would live up to their name, becoming one of the biggest bands of this wave. They’d even top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 with their earworm ballad, “To Be With You”.
In the decades since their commercial peak, the individual members would drift from project to project, eventually folding in 2002 before reuniting in 2009 for the inevitable run of Japanese megadomes and euro open air fests. What followed was a glorious second wind that was tragically halted in 2018 after the passing of Torpey due to Parkinson’s disease. Out of respect, Mr. Big paused yet again, not so eager to move on with a fill-in as so many veteran acts do these days. Fast forward a few years later and these big guns are back for one final go-around, this time with the equally super Nick D’Virgilio of Spock’s Beard fame behind the kit, in Ten.
To be completely fair, I try to avoid as much online discourse surrounding an album as possible. I’d rather make an independent opinion than be swayed one way or another, whether it be consciously or not. Yet I couldn’t help but notice in the wake of Ten‘s release, a largely negative reaction from the so-called “melodic rock” community. Upon first listen, I completely understand why. Unlike their signature early output, Ten is a largely stripped down and straightforward hard rock affair, drawing heavily from the well of the hazy ’70s as opposed to the arena rock bombast of the late ’80s.
This approach is made evident from the opening “Good Luck Trying”: A jazzy hard rocker that sounds like a cross between Free and Captain Beyond, bare bones production and all. This rootsy ’70s vibe is further explored on cuts like the grooving “Right Outta Here”, frenetic “What Were You Thinking”, and tripped out “Who We Are”, the latter which sees Gilbert doing his best Robin Trower impersonation. The band fuses their signature pop metal sound with these old school influences on hook-laden cuts like “I Am You” and “Saturday Morning Kinda Girl”, while a song like “Up On You” sounds straight off of Lean Into It. “Up On You” is undoubtedly the most Mr. Big sounding cut on this Mr. Big album, and one of the strongest as well. Meanwhile, other “Big” moments like “As Good as It Gets” and “Courageous” fall flat, especially in comparison to the ’70s romanticism abound.
If this is truly it for Mr. Big, they’re ending their career with a gutsy sharp left turn of an album. I’m usually the first to bitch about such a drastic musical deviation, but if you know your history, it shouldn’t be that shocking. After all, this band was named after a Free song. All of the members came of age in the ’70s. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that for this swansong, they’d want to go back to their roots, and they do so very well, save for an ill advised Foghat cover (“Eight Days on the Road” is sacred to me.) Aside from that, I tip my hat to these veteran hard rockers and wish them a happy retirement…from this band, that is. I’m sure I’ll be reviewing another album featuring at least one of their talents before the year is out.
7 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Free, Aerosmith, The Winery Dogs