Disco de Bad Company: “Holy Water”

I really love the song Holy Water, with its big-power-song rhythms and lyrics. Bad Company provides an entire album wrapped around that feeling.

If you've heard Holy Water and don't like it, then let's be honest, you probably won't like this CD. That's what the whole CD is about - blasting guitars, loud vocals about overcoming obstacles and getting to your goals. If you buy a new age CD about oceans, you get lots of soothing songs about the ocean. If you get Holy Water, you get lots of charge-you-up, you-can-do-it songs about relationships. That sounds fine by me!

Walk through Fire is of course about facing obstacles to get to someone. Stranger Stranger is about a hot, humid daydream. The other songs have their own variations, but mostly this is a long power-opus to the power of the individual who Knows What He Wants and is Willing to Go Get it.

There are plenty of other CDs out there for those seeking complex guitar solos and multiplex harmonies. Sometimes you just want a belting-it-out song that screams of leather jackets and smokey bars. This is the one!

Being of the opinion that Paul Rodgers is a god would lead you to think I'd slag off this album like so many others seem keen to do.

However accepting that Brian Howe is a completely different singer with a different style, means you can listen objectively to this album and appreciate it for what it is.

Brian's vocals have never been better and Mick's guitar complements it both on the rockier tracks and the power ballads.

Simon Kirke adds the usual flawless beat and also gets a short solo outing at the end which is also well worth a listen.

Producer Terry Thomas seems able to bring out the best in all concerned and certainly helped pen a tune or two of note.

More polished than the previous collaboration but still with enough grit to please out and out rock fans as well as the old AOR mob.

Boys cry tough, and Holy water are by far the stand out tracks along with If you needed somebody and With you in a heartbeat, which make this a worthy successor to the excellent Dangerous age.

By far the best work Brian has done since side one of Ted Nugent's Penetrator album, and while Paul Rodger's is not at the helm of Bad Co I'll take this as an enjoyable alternative.

One of the better albums to come out in the early 90s! True, this will never be the same style Bad Company we got in the 70s. I think trying to compare the two Bad Company's is like night and day. I think you should just take what each one has to offer and rock!

Brian Howe makes this record soar with his vocals, enough said. You have to listen to it to be purely amazed by his talent. Mick Ralphs really does well here, going along with Brian's powerful vocals. This record is a must for rock fans. No garbage here.

Being about 30 years old now this album was how I was introduced to Bad Co. The songs were good and fit the time. None of them stood the test of time like the songs on the first few Bad Co records, that is obvious because we can't escape them today 30 years later. The title track is the best song on the CD followed by the heavy blues number Stranger, Stranger. There is a bland love ballad that I'm sure everyone over the age of 20 has heard (If you needed somebody), how did Bryan Adams get on this record? The big problem with this 1990 release is by the time you get to track 6 or 7 you have heard the whole record. There really is no stand out track after 5. If you were to come up with a best of CD of all the Brian Howe era bad company CD's you'd have a bunch of really good songs that all sound the same, well, a few slower ballads and some real good rockers. Maybe someone will release that, until then get the 4 CD's including this one.