CD REVIEW: CALIFORNIA BREED – California Breed

Shane | 13 May 2014 | Reply

CD REVIEW: CALIFORNIA BREED – California Breed
Frontiers Records
16 May 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
10/10

Instant and immediately likeable, California Breed is retro tinged modern rock at its absolute finest.

Looking backwards to the classics – Led Zeppelin, Cream, Hendrix – whilst also very modern thinking, and boasting superb performances and production, California Breed pretty much sets the new benchmark for a rock n’ roll record.

We’re used to magnificent performances from ‘The Voice Of Rock’ Glenn Hughes (bass/vocals) and the ever-amazing Jason Bonham (drums), but the wild card here is young six-string-slinger Andrew Watt, introduced to Hughes by Julian Lennon after Black Country Communion folded. His playing is superb – stunning even – on every song.

Opener The Way literally leaps from the speakers – as a statement of intent it is pure sorcery: seductive and addictive. First single Sweet Tea is almost alarmingly good, reaching one arm deep into the Zep playbook whilst remaining firmly NOW. The rest of the album follows in similar style – enormous riffs, huge drums, fantastic playing, and Hughes’ incomparable voice. If it sounds like I am drooling over this album – I AM, and it is completely justified!

Invisible, Spit You Out, Midnight Oil all strike paydirt immediately, but we could name any of these 13 tracks as standouts.

When we’re dealing with talents as mercurial and experienced as Glenn Hughes, it’s impossible to say whether they’ll still be around a couple of albums down the track, but this is just so good, we can only be thankful for any amount of music they release before going their separate ways. California Breed will doubtless be in the top ten of many, come the end of 2014 roundups.