Recent Release- Chickenfoot III

The good news is that Chickenfoot III is leaps and bounds ahead of their first self titled release. The bad news is some of the same problems remain.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years you know that Chickenfoot is a band featuring the line up of Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith. And the reason they called their second record III is because a band's second record is traditionally not very good, so they just skipped it and went straight to number three. Funny. Oh, and the package is in 3D which is, granted, a gimmick to get some extra sales, but a fun one.

Okay, so here's the good stuff. The band sounds awesome, they've grown into a cohesive unit. Everybody sounds fantastic. Chad Smith is one hell of a rock drummer, I've always liked him in his day job with the Chili Peppers, but this is a different sound, just a powerhouse. Joe Satriani is a bona-fide guitar hero, but he pulls back a little here and plays like you should in a band. This will annoy some of his fans but he also spreads out and plays some acoustic stuff (loves me some dobro!) which is a nice change. Michael Anthony even gets a few good licks in on bass as well, though as usual you have to turn up your bass response to hear him, but certainly a good idea to do so. As for Sammy, he sounds about 20 years younger than his 63 years and can still scream with the best of 'em.

Song-wise this record is much fuller than the first as well. The music is slightly more varied. There's the acoustic and catchy "Different Devil" which would have made a killer Van Hagar single, the blues based hard rock of album opener "Last Temptation" and Zeppelin-ish "Dubai Blues", the all out non stop groove on "Up Next" and "Three And A Half Letters" and more.

This is a step forward lyrically too. Hagar's lyrics have always been a bit of a mixed bag, many being just half-assed sex/party songs. Yet he does occasionally get a little deeper and observational. The guy  has something to say, but most people fail to look past the way he presents himself to see what's actually going on. Well, I'm happy to report that there are some of the good ones here. "Three And A Half Letters" is by far the best, it's about letters Sammy received from homeless people asking him for help. Tears, man. Also on the good list is "Up Next", Sammy's vision of the pearly gates. Not exactly biblical but a good song. Bonus track "No Change" is a nice generic protest song, and "Different Devil", as mentioned earlier is a nice sing along (with a one line exception). There are some more but these stand out.

And now for the problem areas. The first Chickenfoot CD was criticized for having too many songs that never really went anywhere and fell flat. They were also a touch too long for the pop rock songs they were. While there have been improvements in this area, a few songs like "Alright Alright", "Lighten Up" and the unwisely picked first single "Big Foot" still suffer from this problem (even if the video is kinda funny). They also suffer lyrically. I'm sure they're meant to be fun, but just come off a little lazy via comparison to what Sammy can do when he really tries. Also, "Dubai Blues" is a poor title and bad pun.

So bottom line is that Chickenfoot III is far from perfect, but has enough going for it to make it worthwhile. I really like seven of the eleven songs, and I must admit that even some of the sillier songs are growing on me with each listen. This is the kind of good time, big ass rock record that people just don't make anymore and that alone makes it a winner in my book.

4 out of 5 Daves

P.S.-I know, I know, no video. There's only one official, and it's a song I slammed so I don't think that's a fair representation of the CD or my review. Search for Chickenfoot III on YouTube, lots of stuff will come up.