Chickenfoot - CD Review

It took an extra week to review the new Chickenfoot CD because I kept hitting the replay button after each track - liking it so much that it was tough to move on to next one. Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith have put together a primer for wannabe rockers. With two former members of Van Halen on board it’s pretty tempting for a lot of critics to overanalyze - and wring their hands wondering what Eddie thinks. At the end of the day, it’s the best rock record to come out in a long time. Much too long of a time.

Favorites so far include “Sexy Little Thing” and “My Kinda Girl” – both tunes are straight ahead, crank this sucker up, rock and roll. “Future In The Past” has got that anthem-like, change-it-up/build-it-up, soaring guitar thing going on. I haven’t heard a guitar soar in quite a while. Thanks Joe, I needed that – and thanks for setting every single track on fire on this smoker.

Working together, Michael Stanley and Chad Smith bring a sensibility that often seems to be missing when “veterans and superstars” team up. In addition to actually sounding like they’re working together, they clearly know how to transcend the mechanics to reach a state of pure funkification. “Turning Left” is a great example.

And then you’ve got Sammy Hagar sounding the way you want him to sound. It genuinely feels like he’s having a good time. Although he’s got nothing to prove, you could imagine him announcing, “now this is how ya do it” at the start of this CD.

You might call Chickenfoot’s debut an inspirational record that encourages hope. It’s inspired me to pester my friends that have given up on rock …to insist that they listen – and we all hope there’s a second CD in the works.