Shane’s Music Challenge: BONHAM – 1989 – The Disregard Of Timekeeping

Shane | 2 April 2014 | Reply

BONHAM – 1989 – The Disregard Of Timekeeping

6.5/10

When you’re the scion of a rock n’ roll icon, it’s never gonna be easy to step out of Ma or Pa’s shadow and blaze your own unique musical trail – just ask Jason Bonham.

Drummer son of drummer John Bonham, who you might remember from a little four piece combo called Led Zeppelin, Jason was taught by his Dad, and had that powerhouse DNA running through his veins, so it’s no surprise that the boy can play.

In these sort of situations there’s only two ways to roll: you either walk a plank right out there and do something completely unexpected, or you follow in Daddy-o’s footsteps.

With Bonham, Jason did the latter – right down to recruiting Robert Plant soundalike Daniel MacMaster on vocals. Rounded out by bassist/keyboardist John Smithson and guitarist Ian Hatton, Bonham released two albums before disbanding, of which this was the first.

Yielding a decent hit in the Zep-alike Wait For You, the album is a classy, well written collection of songs that just happen to sound a little too much like his Dad’s old band. It’s worth noting that at the time there were a lot of bands sounding like Zeppelin doing the rounds – even Ozzy would sing a song critical of this on Gary Moore’s After The War album, called Led Clones.

Guilty was a less hit, almost breaching the US Top 50, and the rest of the songs on offer would all sit comfortably on any latter Led Zeppelin album.

By Shane Pinnegar