Review: 'Bachman & Turner'
Release date: 9/7/10, RBE Music / Fontana
By Dave White, About.com Guide
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RBE Music/Fontana
Shadows of the Past
When brothers Randy (guitar/lead vocals,) Robbie (drums/backing vocals) and Tim (rhythm guitar/backing vocals) Bachman first began performing with Fred Turner (bass/lead vocals) as Bachman Turner Overdrive, things were looking pretty good. Their first two albums, both released in 1973, went gold and platinum, respectively.
By 1974, brother Tim left, and was replaced by Blair Thornton. That lineup held until 1977 when Randy left to pursue solo work. Turner traded his bass for lead guitar, and Jim Clench got the nod for bass and backing vocals. That iteration lasted until 1979, when they decided to call it quits altogether.
All was quiet until 1983 when two of the Bachmans (Randy and Tim) again joined up with Turner (this time with Gary Peterson on drums and Billy Chapman on keyboards) but that reunion lasted only until 1986. Two years later, the mid-70s lineup (Bachmans Randy and Robbie, Turner and Thornton) re-formed, and carried the banner until Randy quit (for the second time) in 1991. He was replaced by Randy Murray, and that lineup lasted the longest of any so far, until 2005, at which time, the band disbanded yet again.
B&T meets BTO
Photo by Dan Harper, courtesy Bachman & Turner
Come 2009 and Bachman brother Randy is working on a solo album for which he plans to invite several "guests" to share vocals. He thinks Turner's voice (which he describes as "gritty, refrigerator-sized") is perfect for a song he had written, called "Rock 'N' Roll is the Only Way Out" and issues an invitation to his former BTO mate. By the time the studio session was over, the solo album idea was out the window and Bachman asked Turner if he'd like to sing a few more, which prompted Turner to show Bachman some new songs he had been working on, and before you could say, "Buh-buh-buh-baby, you ain't seen nuh-nuh-nothin' yet," Bachman & Turner was born.
It's impossible not to listen to Bachman & Turner without comparing it to BTO's best work, which most fans will tell you was the 1974-77 Randy & Robbie (Bachman) – Fred (Turner) – Blair (Thornton) era. It's hard to argue that, since it was the lineup that produced Not Fragile, Four Wheel Drive, Head On and Freeways – defining albums for the band, some of their most commercially successful, and written almost completely by Randy and/or Fred. I don't think either Bachman or Turner minds the comparisons.
Ghosts of BTO's guitar-driven "road rock" (think "Roll on Down the Highway" and "Four Wheel Drive") are alive in this album's lead track, "Rollin' Along," "Moonlight Rider", "Slave to the Rhythm" and the aforementioned "Rock `N' Roll is the Only Way Out". There's the bluesy "Waiting Game" and the instrumental, "Traffic Jam". "Slave to the Rhythm" is more lyric- and vocal harmony-driven than the classic BTO fare.
If you loved them then ...
Age is an occupational hazard for singers of the BTO brand of hard rock (see also Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Meat Loaf) and even for "refrigerator sized" voices like Fred Turner's, the gravelly high notes are noticeably harder to hit and hold than they were 35 years ago. It isn't noticeable enough to be a distraction, but enough to make us appreciate the accomplishment. We can only hope that we can still be rocking as hard in our mid-60s as these guys do.
This album may serve more to rekindle interest in the classic BTO of 1974-77 than to introduce a significant new rock influence. But that's not a bad thing. For me and my former long-haired stoner pals, this was the music that we grew up on, that we listened to because we really didn't want to grow up, that gave us a way to cut loose and escape the real world. Bachman & Turner doesn't break any new ground, but it deserves a listen for longtime BTO fans, and potential new ones who were born too late to enjoy the experience the first time around.
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