Chickenfoot - Self Titled

Chickenfoot is a rock supergroup composed of:

Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Joe Satriani

Micheal Anthony (Van Halen)

Sammy Hagar


All in all, Chickenfoot's debut album is disappointing

I was pretty excited for this band seeing as it feature my IDOL, Joe Satriani. However awesome Satch's playing may be in this band, it in no way makes up for the atrocities that Sammy Hagar commits upon my eardrums.

The band members gave Hagar way too much control over the sound in my opinion, far too many of the songs just sound like Van Halen minus the actual Van Halen. Some of the songs are pretty good though, and I now that I think about it, the music they make is really the only way that they could incorporate Hagar's vocals, if that makes sense.

This album will sell very well to Hagar nuts.

Satch fans beware when buying, this is not another compilation of complex guitar-wankery, it is more hard rock/rock/modern rock. Pretty bland overall. Luckily there are lots of blistering, octave-shattering whammy screams thrown in several of the songs. I think we can all agree that Satch has perfected that little technique, and I don't know about you but I love to pull one of those off after you've played a nice little riff.

I would be in heaven if the band took their music in a more blues-oriented direction for their next album(if they make one), as Satch and Chad could just join up and make masterful tunes, and if Hagar could tone it down a little to make it sound like hes NOT about to have a hernia with every syllable, it would be some bomb-ass music.

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Avenida Revolution: The decision to start the album is pretty bold in my opinion. It really projects a hard-rocking image and the band firmly cements their musical style in your mind. Seeing as I have a major interest in anything involving Joe Satriani, I really love how the guitar takes a pretty major role in the song. Around 1:45 we get a good signature Satch whammy trick. The solo however, is pretty tame compared to pieces in Satriani's early career. I assume that Satch is holding back on his guitar work in order to attract focus off of the guitar and onto the other members and elements of the band. The guitar doesn't overwhelm the mix, and when listening to this album, I have to do it from the perspective of one who hasn't already been influenced by Satriani's earlier work to the extreme extent I have. As an impartial listener, it's very refreshing to be able to clearly hear each individual element of the band with minimal confusion.

Soap on a Rope: Pretty good song. One might think this song, with it's increased energy and ability to become a more popular song, would be placed first in the album track list. However, in several sections of the song, in which the vocals and guitar harmonize, with the vocalist increasing in pitch over an artificial harmonic being played by the guitar sound almost exactly like a Van Halen song. Even with that small flaw, this song more than makes up with Chad Smith's drumming, a loose, relaxed, and fun drum beat makes the song very lively and fun. Satriani also gives a much better solo in this song, very reminiscent of his solo work. Overall it's a good song, with an interesting composition, and it's fun to try and find all the moment's when you are vividly reminded of Van Halen. There's quite a few.

Sexy Little Thing: This song is a little weird, and is sounds even more like Van Halen than Soap. Probably one of my least favorite songs on the album. I enjoyed Satch's bluesy solo however short it may have been. Too many times I just find myself wishing they hadn't given Hagar so much creative control over the band. Like I stated on my other blog, Satch and Smith should just grab Flea or Geddy Lee or someone awesome like that and make an awesome instrumental funk/blues band.

Oh Yeah: The intro on this song guarantees to make your head bob, and you really realize why the song has the title that it does. The rhythm just makes you wanna say "oh yeah" as your head bobs. Pretty neat little rhythm, and Hagar screeches over in segments that are completely over the top with a chorus shouting "OH!" "YEAH!" Really cool little buildup and transition between sections of the song at 2:30 leads into a nice little solo, and sets you up to be assailed once more by the chorus and Hagar wailing into the microphone.

"Runnin' Out": This song is pretty funny because I actually enjoy Hagar's vocals in this song. It's just so funny to image him as a flamboyant black man dancing around, big lips flapping and belting out the lyrics, as that is the image that is strongly conveyed to me when I listen to him sing.

Get It Up: Satriani almost certainly had most, if not all, creative control on this song. The style and feel of the song just oozes of Satch's more experimental work, such as Strange Beautiful Music This song also has a great section where two guitars solo off Sf one another. This is an ideal song to play with a guest guitar player, seeing as Satch is the only official guitar player. This is very exciting for guitar aficionados, because a guest guitar player for a band with Satch in it has to have some skills for sure, and this gives other G3 members a chance feature in tours and plug their band, and for Chickenfoot to get a chance to play at guitar clinics and festivals such as NAMM, G3, etc. One of my favorite songs on the album.

Down the Drain: A sinister intro builds up into another upbeat, classic song invoking memories of Van Halen. However, this song takes the classic sound and really modernizes everything with Satch's unique phrasing and technique. The more modern guitar contrasted with Hagar's very classic vocals gives the song a very unique feel.

My Kinda Girl: I did not like this song. It just feels stale and very boring.

Learning to Fall: Obviously meant to be a ballad, this song falls far short once Hagar's voice starts grating irritably against your brain, which happens to be when he first begins singing. You might as well skip this track.

Turning Left: A much welcome reprieve after the abomination of Learning to Fall is Turning Left. The guitar drives a tight, fast rythm and keeps the song moving. Another one of my favorites.

Future is the Past: Funky song, pretty dang cool. This is another one of Hagar's good moments, and another song in which I visualize him as someone else. This song would be great live, it seems like it could really get a crowd pumped up. This is also another song that would be able to incorporate a guest guitarist. With a guest guitarist and Satch play solos off one another and if they did a little improvisation for a few minutes thrown in about halfway, this song would be extremely effective and popular in a live setting.

Bitten By the Wolf: Acoustic song. Fun to listen to and puts the spotlight on Hagar, who does a great job on this song.

Overall, I have to give this album a 6/10 because it does what it set out to do. That is, it takes the classic rock sound and kicks it into overdrive, really modernizing the sound into something quite unique.

-Dr.Reeves
http://www.last.fm/user/ryoga415