In recent months I have heard quite a few different releases by bassist and songwriter Bob Madsen but must confess this one totally threw me as I never expected to hear something quite like this. The demos were originally written by Bob with 41POINT9 guitarist, Chad Quist, for a joint venture between Bob and Tony Carey, called Operation: Paperclip. But when Tony heard this, he told them it needed to be a brand-new band, so they grabbed singer Hans Eberbach, brought in drummer Gregg Bissonette and did just that. They describe the album as a mix of Prince, Level 42, Ultravox, Marvin Gaye, Toad The Wet Sprocket and a few others – among that last they need to include Living Color (especially on “She Lay Sleeping” which would have fitted nicely on ‘Time’s Up’), Seal, Huey Lewis, Go West and even Todd Rundgren. I must confess to having not previously come across Eberbach, even though he has been around since the 90’s, and his voice is incredible – rich velvet, silky and smooth, able to go through quite a range and always feeling comfortable. The music is there as an armchair, to support and relax him, as he goes through his stuff.

Mind you, that isn’t to say that the music is laid back as Bob is having a blast driving the music with loads of different bass styles, with the guitars and keyboards often layered just behind what he is doing as he brings together influences as diverse as Flea, Muzz Skillings and Mark King. There is a real groove throughout this album, and while I generally do not listen to music as commercial as this, there is a classic rock edge to much of this, and the very first time I played it I was just blown away. This is an album where pretty much every song could be played on the radio, as they are all hits in their own right. Whichever song is being played is pretty much the one that is my favourite, and it captures the Eighties pop and rock scene perfectly. “The Man Who Would Be The King” sounds as if it is a lost track from the debut Go West album and should be there right after “We Close Our Eyes”. But this album is way more than ‘spot the influence’ as it is one great song after another, loads of hooks and spot on musicianship creatin the perfect environment for a singer to get the best out of his performance. It really is hard to fault this.

Rating: 10/10

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