Following on from the death of Pat Torpey from Parkinson’s in 2018, there was always a desire to release a final album and tour, but it has taken until now for the band to finally achieve that with Eric Martin (lead vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar, vocals) and Billy Sheehan (bass, vocals) being joined by Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train, Spock’s Beard, Genesis, Tears for Fears) on drums. There may have been some gaps over the years, but since the original quartet got together in 1988, MR.BIG have continued to be one of the top melodic hard rock bands around. Each of the guys are amazing musicians (in my mind there is no doubt that Gilbert’s take on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as part of Yellow Matter Custard is the ultimate version), and at the front there is Martin who is still in as fine a voice as he was more than 35 years ago.
Martin says, “This new album doesn’t copy anything from the 9 previous studio records it’s all new stuff from scratch… this is raw, unadulterated riff rock and blues with all the Mr. Big trimmings.” I don’t have all their previous albums, but I know D’Virgilio has slotted right in as one would expect and sounds as if he has been in the band his whole life, and here is a group that still hit the melodies and deliver songs which deserve to be hit singles, “Sunday Morning Kinda Girl” being a case in point. They may never recreate the magic of when they had a number one hit single in fifteen countries, but here is a band who are going out with a BIG bang. Of course, there a lot of bands currently playing and recording who have had a final tour years ago, and there is a magic here which deserves to continue with D’Virgilio in the hot seat. American melodic hard rock rarely gets much better than this, and if you are one of the many who have the classic ‘Lean Into It’ then you will find much on here to enjoy.
Rating: 9/10
