{"id":14990,"date":"2021-03-26T05:00:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=14990"},"modified":"2021-03-25T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T19:46:55","slug":"smith-kotzen-smith-kotzen-bmg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=14990","title":{"rendered":"Smith\/Kotzen – ‘Smith\/Kotzen’ (BMG)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Adrian Smith is best known as the most tasteful (in my opinion!) guitarist in a band you may have heard of, Iron Maiden. He has written some of the band\u2019s best material (also in my opinion!), and when he left Maiden in 1990 to pursue a solo career with his band Adrian Smith and Project (A.S.A.P.), Maiden\u2019s downhill trajectory soon followed. When he returned to the Maiden fold in 1999 (along with vocalist Bruce Dickinson) they became the biggest metal band on the planet again.<\/p>\n

Before he took Dennis Stratton\u2019s place in Iron Maiden back in 1980, Smith was the lead vocalist and guitarist in his own band Urchin, who themselves had some limited success. Smith\u2019s vocal prowess has been highlighted with Maiden over the years as a more than capable backing vocalist, and he sang lead vocals on the fantastic B side to \u2018Wasted Years\u2019 – \u2018Reach Out\u2019 back in 86.<\/p>\n

He shares vocal and guitar (bass and lead) duties on this collaboration with former Mike Varney prodigy, Poison, Mr Big and Winery Dogs guitarist\/vocalist Richie Kotzen. Kotzen\u2019s first ever concert experience was Iron Maiden\u2019s renowned World Slavery tour back in 1985 and he\u2019s come full circle by writing and performing with one of the guys on that very stage. Not that he\u2019s been a slouch himself with a pedigree that\u2019s world class.<\/p>\n

The pair met in an LA restaurant (as you do), got chatting, jamming, writing, and recording and the result is an album that shows both Smith and Kotzen in a light we haven\u2019t seen before. A stylish blend of classic rock, blues rock, and straight up R & B mixed with the combined talents of Smith and Kotzen produces a strong album with some fantastic performances.<\/p>\n

The album was produced by Smith and Kotzen themselves with long time Maiden producer Kevin Shirley handling mixing duties. Smith\u2019s Maiden buddy Nicko McBrain makes a guest appearance on the track \u2018Solar Fire\u2019 and Tal Bergman (Billy Idol, Simple Minds) lends his tub thumping talents to the songs \u2018You Don\u2019t Know Me\u2019, \u2018I Wanna Stay\u2019 and \u2018Til Tomorrow\u2019. Kotzen plays drums on the remaining songs\u2026so talented, makes me sick! Ha ha!<\/p>\n

Opening up with \u2018Taking My Chances\u2019 and \u2018Running\u2019 there\u2019s a definite nod to the bands of the 70s that have obviously influenced the duo. Bad Company and Free come to mind with some great bluesy licks. It\u2019s not hard to differentiate between Smith and Kotzen in both voice and guitar styles, Smith has a more refined vocal style while Kotzen has echoes of the late, great Chris Cornell is his delivery. \u2018Scars\u2019 is the standout track for me with it\u2019s haunting melody and Hendrix style lead work. This one sticks in your mind after a few plays, the guys trading licks at will. Great stuff.<\/p>\n

\u2018Some People\u2019 lays down a thick groove with an almost funky feel. More guitar wizardry is again tastefully added to the track without overpowering the song. \u2018Glory Road\u2019 is a straight-ahead rocker with some added swagger and lyrics about how to be successful in a band, (they should know!) A catchy, sing a long chorus make this another highlight. You can feel the chemistry between the pair, and it translates well onto record even though they recorded much of the album with five thousand miles between them due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u2018Solar Fire\u2019 really benefits from sticksman McBrain\u2019s powerhouse drumming, you certainly know he\u2019s there! There\u2019s a throwback to his days with the Pat Travers Band here, a great 70s vibe. \u2018You Don\u2019t Know Me\u2019 is another track that has a less is more approach that works well. The songs aren\u2019t just vehicles for the pair to show off their chops, they really are playing for the songs. That said, this track is a little on the long side. \u2018I Wanna Stay\u2019 really shows how soulful Smith can be, he really does have a fantastic voice which wouldn\u2019t work in the Maiden set up. The album closes with \u2018Til Tomorrow\u2019 another classy number with an almost dreamlike quality. Apparently, the recording sessions left the duo with \u2018tracks to spare\u2019 so I\u2019m sure this album won\u2019t be a one off.<\/p>\n

The guys really want to take the project out on the road when restrictions are (finally) lifted and I think these songs will work fantastically in the live arena. As Richie says, \u201cWhen the time is right, and it\u2019s safe, we\u2019ll have a conversation about some players \u2013 male or female \u2013 that will help us take this to the next level and bring the music to the stage. We both want to play live, we both miss it terribly actually. Before all this stuff happened I said I was ready to take a break from the road \u2013 but I\u2019m sure as hell ready to go now!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t we all Richie, aren\u2019t we all\u2026..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Kenny Kendrick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adrian Smith is best known as the most tasteful (in my opinion!) guitarist in a band you may have heard of, Iron Maiden. He has written some of the band\u2019s best material (also in my opinion!), and when he left Maiden in 1990 to pursue a solo career with his band Adrian Smith and Project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6484,6488,3153,514,6487,6492,6491,588,6489,6486,2390,6493,6485,5913,6490,4861],"class_list":["post-14990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-adrian-smith","tag-bad-company","tag-bmg","tag-chris-cornell","tag-free","tag-guitarist-vocalist","tag-mike-varney-prodigy","tag-mr-big","tag-nicko-mcbrain","tag-pat-travers-band","tag-poison","tag-richie-kotzen","tag-ritchie-kotzen","tag-simple-minds","tag-tal-bergman-billy-idol","tag-winery-dogs","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14990"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14994,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14990\/revisions\/14994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}