Audio CD review:
Bad Company - Run with the Pack

Bad Company - Run with the Pack

Band: Bad Company Title: Run with the Pack Rating: Release Date: 25 October, 1990 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Live for the Music 2: Simple Man 3: Honey Child 4: Love Me Somebody 5: Run With the Pack 6: Silver, Blue & Gold 7: Young Blood 8: Do Right by Your Woman 9: Sweet Lil' Sister 10: Fade Away

Customer Review Arguably the ultimate Bad Company release ) Bad Company's third studio album. Run With The Pack (1976. INTRODUCTION: After two successful albums, it was clear Bad Company wasn't going to be one of those flash-in-the-pan supergroups rock music of the classic era was infamous for. The band had released two excellent albums, their self-titled debut from 1974, and 1975's Straight Shooter. The year was 1976, and the band was preparing to release their third album. Run With The Pack, released that year, was the third album from the classic rock supergroup, who remained popular worldwide. Keep reading, and see how album number three measures up! OVERVIEW: Bad Company released their third studio album, Run With The Pack, on Swan Song Records in 1976. For the classic six Bad Company albums, the band featured Paul Rodgers on vocals, Mick Ralphs on guitar, Simon Kirke on drums, and Boz Burrell on bass. The band produced the album. Tracklist for the album consists of Live For The Music, Simple Man, Honey Child, Love Me Somebody, Run With The Pack, Silver Blue And Gold, Young Blood, Do Right By Your Woman, Sweet Lil Sister, and Fade Away. REVIEW: All the classic Bad Company albums are great. No fan of classic rock will deny that. While the self-titled debut tends to be the most popular, it is this record, the band's third, that many a die-hard fan of the group likes to call their favorite. And why not? Pretty much everything you love about Bad Company and then some - this record has it all. From start to finish, it's a diverse and musical masterpiece that is arguably the band's crowning achievement. For a track-by-track analysis, keep reading. -SIDE 1- -Live For The Music (Ralphs): Any fan of Bad Company knows that these guys know how to start an album. On Run With The Pack, it's no exception. The opening track on this album rocks hard - and when it came to classic hard rock, these guys were kings. You simply could not ask for a better opening track than this. -Simple Man (Ralphs): One of Bad Company's greatest strengths was their musical diversity. After an opening track that rocked hard, the band slows the pace down dramatically, creating a slow and melodic piece that doesn't fail to please. Interestingly, both of these tracks that started off the album, different as they may be, were both written by Mick Ralphs (which goes to further illustrate how diverse of a songwriter he alone could be. ) -Honey Child (Burrell/Ralphs/Rodgers): Although this album didn't have as many hits as the released that came before it, this was one of the more popular songs to emerge from the record. The songs rocks hard and heavy, the way a Bad Company album should. One of the defining examples of classic rock from this era. One of the band's best songs, no questions asked. -Love Me Somebody (Rodgers): Back to the ballads. And an excellent one, at that. Slow-paced piano-intensive ballads tended to be a specialty of Paul Rodgers back in his Bad Company days, and this one is certainly no exception to that rule. If you require another example of the band's musical diversity, look no further than this song. -Run With The Pack (Rodgers): One of my all-time favorite Bad Company songs - and popular for all the right reasons. With its piano and guitar approach, the song mixes boogie rock and melodic stuff. The combination sounds strange, and in many ways it is, but somehow, this combination works. The end of the song is particularly excellent, featuring an instrumental sequence - and with the orchestral elements, it gets pretty wild near the end! Awesome song. -SIDE 2- -Silver Blue And Gold (Rodgers): Despite never being released as a single, this is the song that people generally remember from this album. A melodic rock ballad is what Paul Rodgers created for his audiences here, and it's one of the greatest songs of the type ever created. Many people put this song at the top of their "favorite Bad Company song" lists. When you listen to it, you'll see why. -Young Blood (Leiber/Pomus/Stoller): For Bad Company, cover songs were a rarity. Here the band tries their hand at an old Coasters song. Sound weird? It is, but it's surprisingly good, too. The bluesy rock tune is given new life my the classic rock supergroup. Definitely one of the stranger things on this record, but it's still an awesome song. Plus, it shows their diversity in a totally different way. -Do Right By Your Woman (Rodgers): Here's another song from the album that had some moderate popularity and ranks fairly high amongst fans of the bands. To put it simply, it's another one of the slow and melodic ballads that Paul Rodgers always writes so well. It should have been more popular than it was, but no complaints. It's an awesome song. -Sweet Lil Sister (Ralphs): Mick Ralphs had a thing for writing songs that were the happy medium between hard rock and pop rock - and the style always worked so well. This tune is no exception to the classic rule. Although not as big a hit as some of the other songs he had done along the same stylings, it is no less excellent. -Fade Away (Rodgers): What better way to close out the album than with another one of those melodic ballads as only Bad Company could do in their classic eras? With lots of piano and backing orchestral instrumentation, it stands as one excellent album closer. OVERALL: Run With The Pack is a classic rock masterpiece. All of the classic Bad Company albums rule, but this is arguably the finest one of them all. Through his musical career, Paul Rodgers has had many musical highlights, and this definitely ranks among the highest points of his career (which says a lot since the guy has NEVER put out a bad album. ) I don't even really need to say it, but this album is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! EDITION NOTES: There have been several compact disc releases of this album over the years, but sadly, most of them don't do anything special. The remasters, released a few years back, feature excellent sound quality, but don't add in expanded liner notes, bonus tracks, or anything special like that. This is disappointing since many tracks didn't actually make it onto an album (many of these forgotten tracks later surfaced on the Original Bad Company Anthology, but who wants to shell out a ton of money for the sake of a few stray B-Sides/unreleased tracks?) Of course, this doesn't change my feelings about the album. . . You can see a complete list of all Bad Company discography, or go back to the Bad Company tabs