ROCKET REVIEW: MR. BIG – “What If…” (CD)

Released on January 21 via Frontiers records, What If… is MR. BIG’s first studio album with the original lineup (Martin, Gilbert, Sheehan, and Torpey) in fifteen years. This reviewer was not expecting much from the aging rockers, to be perfectly blunt… many critics have already dismissed the album “as outdated 80’s song writing”, but I am going to be straight up as always: these four musical geniuses have put out one of the year’s best. What If… is one of those crank it up loud in your car with the windows open ear candy experiences for sure. Paul Gilbert clearly stands out on the opening track “Undertow” as one of the greatest electric guitar players of all-time with his explosive acrobatic feats on the fretboard. Martin himself certainly sounds more bluesy and in control of his vocals at this later stage in his music career. Sheehan is still the monster on the four strings and will go down in history as one of the best to hold down the low end in rock. The technical “go-off” play between he and Gilbert all throughout What If… is pretty much unmatched in the world of music. The listener will be happy with smoking rockers “American Beauty”, “Once Upon A Time”, and “As Far As I Can See”, for being the perfectly executed ass-kickers that made this band a worldwide phenomena in music to start… when they first formed way back in 1988. Sure, they got most famous for the dripping with sap “To Be With You” ballad (a number one single in fifteen countries in 1991), but Mr. Big is back and in better form than ever on “What If…” and anyone that can’t hear that needs to have their ears checked out.

tmd

ROCKET REVIEW:
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MR. BIG – “What If…” (CD)
(Frontiers/2011)

1. Undertow
2. American Beauty
3. Stranger In My Life
4. Nobody Left To Blame
5. Still Ain’t Enough for Me
6. Once Upon a Time
7. As Far as I Can See
8. All The Way Up
9. I Won’t Get In My Way
10. Around the World
11. I Get the Feeling

http://www.mrbigsite.com/