Album Review — Graham Bonnett Band

Graham Bonnett Band — Meanwhile, Back In The Garage

Graham Bonnett’s resume is quite impressive as it includes stints with rock legends Rainbow and MSG as well as Alcatrazz and Impellitteri over his four decade plus career. This month Bonnett released “Meanwhile, Back In The Garage” under the Graham Bonnett Band moniker.

Bonnett still sounds like he did back with his stints in MSG and Rainbow. His voice is still strong with great range. And overall, the musicianship and the production are high quality. There’s a little bit of everything on the album including a cover of Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero”. The second disc of the 2 CD set is a career-spanning live set from early 2018. So for Graham Bonnett fans, I have to imagine this is a must own even just for the live record.

My problem with the record is I just don’t like the songwriting. The performances are good but the songs themselves just don’t do anything for me. There’s variety here. There’s heavier songs and more mellow songs and stuff in between. But to me, the songs aren’t memorable. Listening through the album there isn’t any song that stuck in my head other than the Tina Turner cover song. I don’t necessarily like that song a lot, but it stands out because there’s melody and a memorable chorus. It’s a well written song. Bonnett sounds great singing it and I could see how I would enjoy this album much more if I liked the songwriting.

Maybe it’s just me? But on many of the songs it seems like the lyrics don’t fit into the songs. There are a few tracks where I like the construction of the song musically but the lyrics leave a little something to be desired (see “Incest Outcest USA” for one example).

It could be that I’m just not a Graham Bonnett guy. I’m not super familiar with his solo stuff so this could just be his style which doesn’t suit my taste. It’s entirely possible Graham Bonnett fans will really like this record. He’s obviously a talented guy who has had a great career and still sounds great 40+ years into it. Maybe just not for me.

Overall — 60 out of 100

Track Listing

1. Meanwhile, Back In The Garage
2. The Hotel
3. Livin’ In Suspicion
4. Incest Outcest U.S.A.
5. Long Island Tea
6. The House
7. Sea Of Trees
8. Man On The Corner
9. We Don’t Need Another Hero
10. America…Where Have You Gone?
11. Heading Toward The Light
12. Past Lives
13. The Crying Chair
14. Starcarr Lane (Live From Daryl’s House 2018)