Bernie Marsden - Shine mp3 (2014)

Former WHITESNAKE guitarist Bernie Marsden will release his new solo album, "Shine", on August 18 via Provogue
At a rough guesstimate Bernie Marsden’s name appears on a hundred albums – maybe more. In addition to a long-running solo career the Buckinghamshire-born guitarist has been a recording musician since the early 1970s via membership of such groups as Whitesnake, UFO, Wild Turkey, Babe Ruth, Paice Ashton & Lord, Cozy Powell’s Hammer, Alaska, M3 and many more. Though there’s a tendency to pigeonhole him as a blues-rock guitarist, each of Marsden’s acts had its own individual flavour.

Although Marsden was wary of flooding the credits with too many special guests, ‘Shine’ does feature some extremely well-known names, from Joe Bonamassa to Whitesnake singer David Coverdale and the Deep Purple duo of Ian Paice (drums) and Don Airey (keyboards). Jimmy Copley of Jeff Beck fame behind the kit and Mark Feltham of Nine Below Zero also supplies some breathtaking harmonica playing.





Bernie Marsden’s ‘Shine’ explores a wide ranging musical horizon including a cleverly updated blues, slick AOR, kick ass boogie, riff driven and twin guitar rock, a steaming bluesy shuffle and a book-ended instrumental. By his own admission ‘Shine’ includes some stockpiled material, but it’s subtly shaped, polished and nicely sequenced by his former Alaska band member turned producer Rob Kass.

Recorded in studio 3 in Abbey Road (where the Beatles cut ‘Revolver’), ‘Shine’ sparkles with confident songs, sumptuous guitar tones, potent harmonies, magisterial playing and Bernie’s best ever lead vocals. Producer Rob Kass strikes the prefect balance between the album’s song driven focus and the possibilities that an array of guests – including David Coverdale, Jimmy Copley, Ian Paice, Don Airey Cherry Lee Mewis, Joe Bonamassa and Mark Feltham – and a big studio offers him. ‘Shine’ is a coherent album that plays to Bernie’s strengths. He’s always been a consummate guitarist and a prodigious song-writer, but a combination of different vocals textures injects the steely arrangements with style and gusto.

Listen for example, to the airy, west coast vocal sweep of Danny Kirwan’s ‘Dragonfly’ – included here as an ode to Peter Green – and the standout title track. The Cream style vocal harmonies are underpinned by Ian Paice’s pounding stick work and topped by Don Airey’s keyboard riffs and Bonamassa’s scintillating solo. All the elements coalesce seamlessly as if building to a naturally defining moment on the track. But this is such a well paced album that the final four tracks find their sequential place as part of an integral whole, before coming to rest on Bernie’s acoustic instrumental outro.





‘Shine’ opens with a sledgehammer groove of Leadbelly’s ‘Linin’ Track’ which mirrors the song’s lyrical muscularity, while the hot picking on ‘Wedding Day’ has a Sonny Landreth feel, as part of an enveloping production. The keyboard led ‘Walk Away’ almost sounds out of place with its 80’s keyboard motif and uplifting hook, except it’s a sister track to the eco message and vocal tour de force, ‘Who Do We Think We Are’. The kick ass boogie and ZZ Top influenced ‘Kinda Wish She Would’ is effectively a counterweight as Bernie’s slightly distorted vocal gives the track an extra bit of edge on a riff driven rocker with huge radio potential.

The guests all make their mark, as Mark Feltham’s lyrical harp line colours the extended groove of ‘Ladyfriend’, as it smolders, sparkles and envelops you. It sets things up nicely for the percussive reworking of ‘Trouble’ predicated on David Coverdale guttural phrasing. Bernie has never been reticent to explore his back catalogue and he’s rarely bettered himself than on this blast from the past. Cherry Lee Mewis adds gritty vocal contrast on the laid back blues-rocker ‘Bad Blood’ and just when you think the whole album has run its course on the hook laden ‘You Better Run’, Bernie launches himself into a dirt tone wah-wah inflected Americana shuffle ‘Hoxie Rollin’ Time’, which is surely destined to become a live favourite. ‘Shine’ is a career high for Bernie Marsden. It’s an album glued together by his own deeply embedded imprint of harmony driven songs with significant hooks and burning solos. It’s almost as if he’s successfully pursued his own mission statement of cutting a definitive solo album. It may have taken him 40 odd years but it’s been worth the wait. ****

Discography:
1975 Babe Ruth: Stealin' home
1976 Babe Ruth: Kid's Stuff
1977 Paice, Ashton & Lord: Malice in Wonderland
1978 Whitesnake: Snakebite
1978 Whitesnake: Trouble
1979 Bernie Marsden: And About Time, Too!
1979 Whitesnake: Love Hunter
1979 Whitesnake: Live at Hammersmith
1980 Whitesnake: Ready & Willing
1981 Whitesnake: Live in the Heart of the City
1981 Bernie Marsden: Look at Me Now
1981 Cozy Powell: Tilt
1982 Whitesnake: Come An' Get It
1982 Jon Lord: Before I Forget
1983 Whitesnake: Saints & Sinners
1984 Alaska: Heart of the Storm
1985 Alaska: The Pack
1988 Guitar Speak 2
1990 Forcefield IV: Let The Wild Run Free
1992 Ashton, Lord & Paice: BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
1992 Bernie Marsden: Friday Rock Show Sessions
1992 Moody Marsden Band: Never Turn Our Back On The Blues
1993 UFO: The Decca Years
1994 Walter Trout: Tellin' Stories
1994 Moody Marsden Band: Unplugged Live in Hell
1994 Moody Marsden Band: Real Faith
1994 Moody Marsden Band: The Time Is Right For Live
1994 Borderline Line: Up
1995 Green and Blues
1996 And About Time, Too!
1997 Cozy Powell: Very Best of Cozy Powell
1998 The Snakes: Live in Europe
1998 The Snakes: Once Bitten
2000 Moody Marsden Band: The Nights the Guitars Came to play
2000 Moody Marsden Band Ozone Friendly (reissue Real Faith)
2000 Micky Moody: I eat them for Breakfast
2001 Company of Snakes: Here they go again
2002 Company of Snakes: Burst the Bubble



Line-Up:
Bernie Marsden (Guitar/Vocals)

Friends:
David Coverdale
Don Airey
Ian Paice
Joe Bonamassa
Jimmy Copley
Cherry Lee Mewis
Mark Feltham


Info:
Artist: Bernie Marsden
Album: Shine
Genre: Rock / Blues / Hard Rock
Country of origin: UK
Year: 2014
Audio codec: MP3
Current Label: Mascot Records
Quality: 320kb's
Size: 131mbs
Included: Front Cover


Tracklist
01. Linin' Track
02. Wedding Day
03. Walk Away
04. Kinda Wish She Would
05. Ladyfriend
06. Trouble
07. Who Do We Think We Are?
08. Bad Blood
09. Shine
10. Dragonfly
11. You Better Run
12. Hoxie Rollin' Time
13. NW8

Playing Time: 00:57:02