Smith/Kotzen – Smith/Kotzen
Release Date: 26th March 2021
Label: BMG
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Genre: 70s Inspired, Blues, Hard Rock.
FFO: Coverdale/Page, Bad Company, Rory Gallagher, Black Country Communion.
Review By: Kenny Newall
Smith/Kotzen are Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (Winery Dogs) and since hearing the singles, I’ve been rather keen to hear what Madrian and Ko. have put together for their first and hopefully not last full-length.
Building on Kotzen’s solo style, this is 70s influenced, blues-laced hard rock and this is up there with the best of Kotzen’s solo work such as the magnificent Fooled Again.* Thankfully this is nothing like Maiden so I’m spared having to compare the incomparable.
The first three tracks are also the singles. Taking My Chances, Running and Scars are essentially The Riff, The Obvious Single, and The Slower One. And while the first two are a damn fine waste of anyone’s time, Scars (video below) is a standout. I particularly like Smith’s guitar part in the chorus. It reminds me of a similar guitar part in Pearl Jam’s Indifference for being an uplifting thing of beauty in an otherwise sublimely melancholic setting and foreshadows the redeeming end to the video for a man brought so low he’s forced to use a phone box. The video highlights who does what and also the differences. Kotzen fingers his Fender and while that gives him a greater range, he relies more on hammer-ons for speed, whereas Smith picks his Gibson and that attack gives his playing more bite. More iron in his system so to speak. Which is better? Personal choice, but I’d go with neither. They’re different and compliment each other well. As do their vocals. (The video also gives Smith a chance to channel his inner Sambora and the album does bring to mind RS’s solo outings).
Another standout is Glory Road, where you can forget you have two guitar gods licking each other’s frets and focus on the vocal melody. I’m feeling Bad Company and Rory Gallagher on this one.
The one drawback is that at times I feel the vocals could do with more power. You Don’t Know Me is the one song that, structurally, could be a Maiden classic and though the finished product is far from where Maiden would have taken it, Dickinson’s vocals would be ideal here. That’s not to say Smith and the Cornellian Kotzen ain’t damn fine singers with voices perfectly suited to the majority of the album, but at times the lungs of a Paul Rodgers or Myles Kennedy may have allowed that extra star for a full 5/5. (Or half star. I’m swithering on going for a 4.5 rating).
The bass as well as song-writing duties are also shared, but Kotzen drums on five of the tracks. The others, the last four of the album, bring in Smith’s dayjob compatriot Nicko McBrain on Solar Road and Kotzen’s stickman, Tal Bergman on the remaining three. It’s not so much the superior technique, but the choices they make that more than justifies bringing them in.
For the guitar lovers, Smith/Kotzen is a bit of a masterclass in technique and tone, but the songwriting focuses just as much on the vocal melodies and lifts this collaboration alongside the likes of Coverdale/Page and Gibson/Marshall. Smith and Kotzen hope to tour when conditions allow and I’m sure many listening to the album hope so too.
* Native Tongue, Kotzen’s one outing with Poison is also worth a mention and for those that don’t know, forget the critics and associations with hair and that Poison are a bit shit apart from this and Flesh & Blood and track it down.
(4 / 5)
