... and this review from TOM
JOYCE
OK, so here's my take on the spider. I've been a long time Schenker fan
and have been mostly supportive, hoping he can turn it around. When I
heard this record was coming, I was surprised, given the chaos of the
prior year or two. I had limited expectations because I figured it would
be a quick effort to make some bucks and try to get the groove back, and
because I thought Schenker's playing on Sharks, which was also recorded
amidst a rough time, was sub-par. Let's face it, right or wrong, the guy
lost practically everything he had, and so I figured nearly any showing
on record would be worthy of kudos, congratulations, best wishes, etc.
Just getting up off the mat is enough for now.
Arachnophobiac
is better than that - much better. It's a great sounding record, with
solid riffs and solid songs.
Alive, Illusion, Rock & Roll Believer, and especially Weathervane
are bona fide hits. I love MSG, but this might be the first MSG record
ever that has 4, 5, maybe 6 songs that absolutely everybody (read: not
just us) would really like. This one totally rocks.
Chris
Logan sounds better than on the last record, both in terms of his voice
and his songwriting. I agree with whoever said he's got the full-on Bad
Company vibe going, but he also does a damn good white man's R&B,
without going overboard. Lyrically he's from the straight ahead, uncomplicated
school; he's no Phil Mogg, but his stuff works and doesn't get in the
way. The evangelical thing is more overt on this one, with more stock
christian lingo here and there, but Chris pulls it off, and sounds genuine,
not preachy (though for my money it's a bunch of hogwash).
Bass and drums are solid and get the job done. Production is solid; more
than a touch of Pro Tools patch-up here (nobody plays rhythm guitar that
consistently all the way through a song). Also, the song structures are
a bit formulaic, which is probably a result of having to record serially
in different locations rather than having the whole band in one place
the whole time to collaborate on putting it together.
Then
there's the lead playing. My first time through this record, I was just
waiting for every lead break, hoping to hear Michael blow the doors off
and prove to me that he still has it. I was disappointed until track #10.
For those on this list, if this is the way you are going to
listen to Arachnopobiac, I would suggest that you start by playing tracks
10 and 11 first, because the man can still burn, but for whatever reason,
he doesn't really kick it on the first 9 songs (though the lead on Illusion
ain't bad).
On some of the early leads I got the sense that the takes were placeholders,
not the final product Schenker would have wanted to hear in the song (e.g.
on Weathervane - ???), but I may be wrong. Anyway, get it out of your
system by skipping to the end, listening to the lead
breaks, and then go back to the beginning and start over by listening
to the songs, which are really good.
Jeff
Watson plays all the leads on four of the tracks. He plays solid stuff
which sounds like he just blew a couple takes on each number, but didn't
spend oodles of time on them. In the absence of any official explanation
regarding why Jeff Watson needed to play lead on 36% of a Michael Schenker
record, we are left wondering. Or not. We could just consider it one hell
of a rebound album, and keep hoping the old man can keep climbing up that
hill.
|
Very
nice ending solo, perhaps a bit too short - but hey, it's brilliant, gets
5 points! 
Heather was cooking dinner, so I got to turn the book CD off for a while
and play some music, and the thing SMOKES! Best thing he's done (outside
of UFO) since "Save Yourself", IMHO. Liked basically every song
on the CD, and I thought many of them were suitable for radio airplay,
even alongside today's bands like DoubleDrive, Nickelback, and so on.
I think the new MSG would fit rock radio nicely if someone out there would
just give it a good listen. The only problem I'D have would be deciding
WHICH song to start with.