Smith/Kotzen

I've been a fan of Richie Kotzen since he joined Poison in the early nineties.Since then he's produced some good solo albums, but also been involved in some excellent collaborations such as 'The Winery Dogs' and 'Forty Deuce'. This collaboration with Adrian Smith is no exception.The album is full throttle all the way through. Great playing, great songwriting and fantastic vocals... I was particularly impressed with Smith's vocals, as I've always just seen him as a guitarist with Iron Maiden.Despite having two technically gifted guitar players, they resisted the temptation to just solo all the way through each track. The playing is tasteful, structured and well placed.The production also sounds huge and would stand next to any high budget rock record of the past decade.The vinyl itself is a really nice touch in the smokey red finish and the internal sleeve looks classy.It's a great album. I can't stop playing it. Worth all the money.

Both Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith need no introduction as to their talents and this is very good album. Plenty of fat guitar riffs and soaring solos but the best surprise here is the fine quality of the songs. The latter are emotive and stirring, stand outs being 'Scars', 'Some People' and 'Til Tomorrow'. In some of the rock press this album has been compared to another classic pairing in the form of the Glen Hughes and Pat Thrall collaboration of 1982 'Hughes/Thrall'. The bluesy funky theme of the latter is repeated here but with the intensity taken up to another level. This is classic rock at its best.

If you know your Adrian Smith discography outside of the day job you’ll be well aware of the impressive body of work he’s done. This mighty fine record just adds to his underrated & often overlooked workmanship. A dream collaboration from two legendary guitarists who are also great friends. A great old school blues rock with the chemistry in full force on each track, hopefully more to come in future

Mr Smith stretches his legs away from Iron Maiden with this bluesy guitar led rock project with the unlikely partner Mr Kotzen.Everything a fan of Adrian Smith could hope for, and not a single fishing story to be heard.I hope this collaboration continues and we get more albums in the future from this pairing.Highly recommended.

When I first saw that Richie Kotzen had teamed up with Adrian Smith....my first question was: WHY?? Is it not true that Mr Kotzen has a vocal that runs from raucous to outright angelic? And is it not true that Mr Kotzen is a more than capable fretboard maestro? So why on earth would he feel the need to go into a partnership with Mr Smith?....Well, apart from the fact that they are close neighbours and doubtless, the Covid situation had (hopefully, temporarily) put the lid on his association with Messrs Sheehan and Portnoy (although Mr Portnoy is currently hitting the skins for a very worthwhile band named Sons Of Apollo!)....the album SK certainly underscores why these two artists should collaborate!I first heard Solar Fire on YouTube and that was it...case proven, and I had to then get me a copy of the SK album and I have to say that whilst it is NOT the best thing that Mr Kotzen has ever laid down in a studio...it does ROCK!Adrian Smith was not someone that I had much knowledge of as I am not really an Iron Maiden fan (owning a total of just two Maiden albums in a collection of thousands!) However, he fits in with Mr Kotzen like a velvet glove, and his vocals ain't half bad either, and thankfully, you can tell the difference between the two artists as they both display strikingly different styles and approaches.Favourite tracks here? Well I think I would be hard pushed but the opener, and blistering, Taking My Chances would certainly be one of them...but this is no straight ahead rockfest as it contains more thoughtful passages too along with some excellent vocals and fretboard work by both artists.All in all a sound investment in quality music from two very capable musicians and it will be interesting to see whether this partnership flourishes, as indeed it should!Buy, and play LOUD!

I like my rock, and have done since about 71 when I heard a sabbath track and my world changed for ever, it seems gone are the days of mega rock bands , it’s almost an underground existence in the rock world nowadays. Which means you have to buy the classic, prog rock type mags and planet rock to have any idea what’s going on, the rock will not find you unless you physically go looking for it these days, so hearing a track on planet rock ( running ) which had my ears dancing, i made a note of the band and reading my classic rock there was an add , so picked phone up, ordered and delivered the next day, only played twice but definitely an album I think has many catchy lines to roll with , top musicianship etc as you expect ( as I type running come on planet rock ! ) I’m still waiting for the next rush , guns and roses etc, but there’s lots of great stuff out there to keep us rocking, and this album keeps this getting older rocker happy as a pig in play.

Album is great, but don't get too excited about the red and black vinyl. It's basically black unless you hold it up to the light. Looks nothing like the picture. Given that it's the same price as the officially black one it doesn't matter as much. But yes, would have been much nicer if it looked like the picture. Having said that, Big Macs don't look like their pictures either so I guess I should've expected it.

Great album, very nice to hear Adrian sing (and play bass, too!!). Kotzen's and Smith's styles on guitar and solos nicely contrast on all the songs as well, and not all are just standard blues rock anthems either, e.g.the semi ballady 'I wanna stay' and the more melodically exotic 'til tomorrow' exemplify that well.Other stand out tracks for me are Taking my chances, Scars and Also the very catchy Glory Road.'Solar fire' also is great, although perhaps in parts a little too 'swingy' for me. Having said that Nicko McBrain plays on it, so cant fault much of anything on this album really