I’ll admit to being thrilled when I heard that Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith were getting together to make an album. That’s a heap of quality right there: Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers and one of the best guitarists in the world (who just so happens to have recently filed for copyright infringement on Coldplay).
Ultimately Chickenfoot could easily follow on from Van Halen’s final album fronted by Hagar (Balance) though it is chock full of Satriani’s thick guitar sound and stylised riffing. Playing and production throughout is tight, mixed to perfection by Mike Fraser who recorded and mixed AC/DC‘s latest offering, Black Ice.
Though the album begins with the progressive ‘Avenida Revolution’, it doesn’t take long before the straight up rock n’ roll swing that the individual band members are amply known for begins to take hold and ‘Soap on a Rope’ even contains the harmonic squeals trademarked by Edward Van Halen all tethered by Satriani’s solid sense of boogie.
An album that is bred from a love of ’80s rock and roll, Chickenfoot is sadly hindered by Hagar’s refusal to wander far from his comfort zone, rendering most lyrical content asinine. The band are best summed up by his own lyric on ‘My Kinda Girl’: “Out of touch in a modern world, but she’s my kind of girl”.
If you had any love for the early ’90s hard rock scene that was quashed by Nirvana et al, Chickenfoot are ready to requite that lost love.
Chickenfoot is released on June 5th (earMUSIC)