02/09/02

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS / ON FIRE

It has been a long 2 years since the critically acclaimed Ad Astra was released and a lot has changed. Spice has departed and there is a new vocalist in the form of ex Grand Nagus guy JB and bass duties are handled ably by Roger Neilson from the Quill. All this has had its effect on the Beggars sound, but thankfully the result is fantastic.

Their brand of Retro Rock has been much copied over the years but never bettered and due to the new input the sound is more focused and if you like old Purple, Sabbath and Uriah Heep you, like me, will be in seventh heaven listening to this fantastic CD.

It kicks of with "Street Fighting Saviours" and leaves you in no doubt about the bands intent to recreate that classic Rock sound. The opening synth intro to "Black Feathers" is so authentic it sent shivers down my spine and the likes of this have not been heard since 1979 and when the Hammond organ kicks in, words fail me.

The new vocalist is similar to classic Graham Bonnet and suits the sound that the band make totally, usually changing a vocalist is fraught with dangers, but the Beggars got away with it. Every track on this CD is a total classic and I will be playing this to death on HFM and look out for a snippet of one of the tracks on the Sep downloadable show.

A very big thank you to Doug from Music For Nations for sending this to me, this could easily make album of the year, cheers Doug.

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 46 mins + 11 fantastic TRACKS