First Underground Nuclear Kitchen

    The first of the reviews are starting to trickle in....here are the first I've come across so far.



    http://www.hardrockhouse.com/NewReleases/

    Gave the new album a couple of spins today,

    people who were not blown away by the short snippets placed online can rest assured.....it is an excellent album

    and is that an ECHOPLEX effect on some of the songs??? yeehaaaw!



    http://www.alloutguitar.com/review/

    Did I just read a comparison of Hughes to Bon Scott? Never thought I would hear that. Maybe they'll compare him to Lemmy next time.

    I really like the snippets - so far, sounds like the best work he's done in a long time. But I'll wait until I hear the full songs before I hold myself to that statement!

    A great start! Thanks David. Apart from immaculate voice, and tremendous songwriting particularly in "We Shall be Free" and the understated "Imperfection". I really would like to point to an underrated part of Glenn's package, the bass playing especially on "Satellite" (sorry Thrally but you missed out there). Some of those lines enhance the whole experience for me. It's the definite groove that distinguishes it from SM and M4TD. This sounds like a band especially with Luis's Tommy style guitar I'd even say it's an emotional experience hearing that Echoplex as a big Tommy fan. And Anders! That boy has come into his own. TOTAL understanding of where Glenn is coming from. Chadley is funk on legs. A restrained and professional performance from the big man. I only came on here to say 'Thanks David' but it's all come out. This is a tremendous album and I will do a track by track when some more of us have had a chance to hear it. If I sound gushing it's cos I am. This is one beaut of an album.

    Sweet!

    Name right, album title correct, top marks.

    Sweet!

    :bow: :claphands :bouncer: :clapper: :singer: :cool:

    'You thought that you could take me for granted, but I couldn't take it no more. Better run if you see me coming ... '

    Quote from Harry le chat

    We had the chance to get a promo copy. Jerome did a review on his GH France blog.
    Sorry, it's in French, I'll translate it for you tomorrow

    http://ghfrance.blogspot.com/2008/04/f-u-n-k-la-review.html

    In one word : enthusiastic !!!



    Here is the translation. Hope I did not make too many mistakes...It's always easier to translate the other way round (from English to French for me) ;)

    The album opener is CRAVE. An incredibly funky track, reminding me of the RHCPs (for sure you can feel Chad Smith’s touch on this track). Glenn’s outstanding voice is even more highlighted by the mix. But what amazes me most is the bass line litteraly leading the members of the band. I can’t remember another album where the bass line is brought forward so efficiently.

    As promised by Glenn, the horns enter the stage with FUNK. Still in a very funky inspiration. The horns section takes us to a universe that reminds me of Led Zeppelin’s Trampled Underfoot. We are immediately taken by the groove and can’t help dancing. Maybe my favourite track on the album. It has it all : a groovy guitar line and a bloody great beat.

    SATELLITE is the first Motown style ballad of the album. The main thing I noticed on this track is essentially the bass line and the brilliant bass/guitar 'dialogue'. The whole thing being backed up by a very subtle drummer named Chad Smith.

    And here is another wild funky track : LOVE COMMUNION and its fabulous horns section. You already heard it and saw the video clip a few days ago. No comment, I’m dancing on the table.

    WE SHALL BE FREE (slow tempo heavy funk) gives the opportunity to the Hughes/Smith duet to kill us with their incredible loudness. You have to turn on the volume level to the max to listen to this one, and to appreciate Glenn’s fantastic work on the bass.

    Another Motown ballad, IMPERFECTION, allows us to catch our breath. I have to say it one more time : the melodic line sustained by Glenn’s bass is outstanding. Even if the ballad itself is probably breaking a bit the whole album rhythm as we were all doing the Funky Chicken.

    But let’s get back to the funk with NEVER SAY NEVER. Once again a heavy funk, maybe a bit less groovy than We shall be free. But the break is incredible and deserves that you press the reepat button.

    A Princely guitar opens WE GO TO WAR on a bloody great groovy tempo. You just can’t remain seated and can’t help shaking your booty! The horns are back again and I love it. The guitar line can remind us of Prince but also the great Neil Rogers.

    The first guitar notes sounding very 'world music' (a la Jimmy Page) take us to a mystic atmosphere while the 70s hard rock (or funky, I still hesitate; Maybe that’s what they call fusion?) riffs bring us back to reality. WE ARE LISTENING TO ONE OF THE GREATEST GLENN HUGHES ALBUM. This track OIL AND WATER is also one of my favourite on the album.

    TOO LATE TO SAVE THE WORLD is the third 'ballad' on the album. And we are immediately taken to another world by the outstanding voice of the great Glenn. Maybe the less funky track on the album but as it comes at the end of the album, it allows us to cool down a bit in a very pleasant way. Great guitar solo, beautiful rhythm section and a touch of Pink Floyd in the atmosphere.

    WHERE THERE’S A WILL ends the album.in a very smooth way, on a rather slow tempo in a jazzy Groover Washington Jr atmosphere.

    We just can’t believe what Glenn offers us this year.

    As he told us before, this album is his funkiest one, between Play Me Out & You Are The Music but don’t expect an album in this style. We are talking about an modern funk album and Glenn must be proud. He is THE funkmeister He proves he is playing in the big league espacially in this category of music. Every track is fantastic. Grab this album as soon as you can, it’s an emergency !

    i'm glad to read all of the good reviews, and having heard the samples, i'm not surprised at all. on a personal note, i have to think what a shame it is for someone to own a music store (15th year), my favorite artist is Glenn Hughes and i don't even get an advance copy to check out. and also, refering back to my previous post of my distributor not even having the release listed in her computer. but i dont want to sound like i'm singeling out glenn's release, record companys dont send me any new releases really and they never have in 15 years. the music business doesnt care about small mom and pop stores, and that's yet another reason why we're dropping like flies and in a few short years, we won't even exist anymore. it's both sad and frustrating to see the way that i've made my living for the last 26 years dissapear, but that's life i guees.
    peace to you all,

    Quote from Harry le chat

    Here is the translation. Hope I did not make too many mistakes...It's always easier to translate the other way round (from English to French for me) ;)


    Fantastic review Jerome and thanks Nathalie for taking the time to translate, it read perfectly for me :thumbup:

    It's time for me to get cracking on mine :eek:

    Keep the reviews coming!
    and let us know where Mr. Nastos comes in to play.
    Less than two weeks and counting :bouncer:

    so light a candle in the window.......
    i will be coming home tonite

    The album is brilliant, very powerful and "grabbing", and I have to say I like it waaaaay more than Music for the Divine :) Great work!!!

    Oh man! I'm really hooked on CRAVE,

    This track is the most rocking funkyin' track i heard in a long time.

    Throughout the track there is some really in your face hard punching metallic guitar funk giving you a guaranteed funk knock out :bow:

    shoeshine music, ha! :lol:

    p.s. Chad has excellent funk driven rock drumming throughout the whole album. The bass never sounded better and the guitarplayers are smoking. The songs are great and really diverse...Glenn's singing is the best ever!

    I have given the new album a couple of spins already, so here are my (very) first thoughts:

    Prologue...
    It's an eyecatcher in the shops.
    And the first thing I noticed when I put it in the CD Player was that it has CD-Text, and It's exactly 52 minutes long! :cool:

    On to the songs...

    CRAVE
    Once again, a perfect opener. I imagined this being the opener on the tour too, before I even saw the setlist for Norway!

    F.U.N.K.
    Very catchy heavy Funk Rock. Great brass section.

    SATELLITE
    What a gem. This sounds like Play Me Out transformed into the 21st century. And I totally love the lyrics, so simple and yet so intense! And the bass break, of course!
    Personally I'd have made this track 4 and Love Communion track 3!

    LOVE COMMUNION
    This is the single - oh, I forgot, it actually is!
    Nice Rhodes piano in the middle section, courtesy of Mr. Ed Roth!

    WE SHALL BE FREE
    Great heavy groove. Other singers would probably have come up with only 2 notes on top of that. Glenn's vocal melody again is superb. This track is uusually long, but never boring.

    IMPERFECTION
    Another gem. The slide guitar sounds like It's About Time. And when was the last time you could hear an actual synthesizer on one of Glenn's albums?

    NEVER SAY NEVER
    Don't like it. It just doesn't click with me. Maybe because the riff sounds like it could have been on R.O.C.K., and I don't listen to that album anymore. Or is it a leftover from Music For The Divine? There were far superior tracks on that in the same style!

    WE GO 2 WAR
    That's one hell of first 3 seconds! And the riff is so much better than the one on Never Say Never. With a 1990s production this could have been on Feel. Great horns, once again.

    OIL AND WATER
    Unusually heavy compared to the rest of the album.
    It's interesting to note that the second half of the album is more similiar in style to Music For The Divine and the first part (We Shall be Free excluded) to Play Me Out.
    JJ really shines on multiple guitars here with plenty of effects thrown in!

    TOO LATE TO SAVE THE WORLD
    My favourite, has been since I heard all the samples. Another great lyric. This has an epic quality, very much like Don't Let Me Bleed.

    WHERE THERE'S A WILL
    Makes Me Smile. Pun absolutely intended!

    concludio...
    Overall I think that Glenn now indeed has found the perfect mixture, the recipe being to throw Play Me Out and Music For The Divine together and create something new.
    This should be his trademark sound.

    Cheers,
    Christian

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