Graham Bonnet Band ‘The Book’ Review

Artist- Graham Bonnet Band
Title- The Book
Genre- Rock/Classic Rock
Release Date- Out Now via Frontiers

What can be said about Graham Bonnet has probably already been said bad and good, i think even the great man himself will admit one thing for sure is the man has a voice like no other, he has also had the privilege of working with some of the greatest guitarists and musicians to ever hit the stage inc Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai… drummers Cozy Powell and Ted McKenna, bassists Roger Glover and Chris Glen and keyboard player Don Airey.. All this brings us to ‘Bonnets’ latest release entitled ‘The Book’ a two disc rocker with disc one being all new material and disc two being reworked versions of some of ‘Bonnets’ greatest moments so lets take a look at what is on offer.

‘The Book’ kicks off rather promisingly with a drumbeat straight outta the past as we are treated to a rainbow’ esque ‘Into The Night’ with a double drum kick and guitars of fury, with vocals from ‘Bonnet’ that show you just like fine wine you improve with age, its a real head-thumping powerhouse to start a great first chapter to get us engrossed into ‘The Book’. ‘Welcome To My Home’ takes us on a musical journey through ‘Bonnets’ home courtesy of swirling keys, thumping bass and guitars of a demon a great solo midway encases ‘Bonnets’ vocals in a tunnel of classic rock bliss. ‘The Book’ continues in this fine form with ‘The Rider’ written about 80 yr old Harley riders with a catchy singalong chorus and rumbling bass line a throwback sound that all classic rock fans will love. ‘Strangest Day’ is a hard rocker which makes good use of ‘Bonnets’ vocals with great riffs and chops from guitarist ‘Conrado Pesinato’ a real gem of a solo that will appeal to all air guitarists out there as we reach out horns aloft and cry ‘Conrado’ the new guitar wonderbeast. ‘ The Dance’ things slow down for this track which is not a bad thing as there is great melodies and background accompaniments to add to ‘Bonnets’ fine vocals and keys with a mighty fine soulful solo midway, another classic in the making. Things soon return to full rock mode with a vengeance as ‘Dead Man Walking’ begins the soulfully slow guitar intro will have you fooled before blasting off your face as it turns into a flat out rocker which will have you plugging in the air guitars once more.

Now comes disc two and as stated previously it is a disc of reworked classics from ‘Bonnets’ illustrious career ‘All Night Long’ which is a meaty juiced up version with ‘Conrado’ handling the guitars with ease, the vocals are crisp and sharp its well worked and still has you headbanging and singing along. ‘Eyes Of The World’ is just wow, a classic made in the future it still has that pull, you just cant stop the feet tapping and screaming ‘Eyes Of The World’ with horns aloft. In ‘Conrado’ they have found a guitar gem who not only handles the guitar parts with ease he also puts his own spin into it which brings it right upto date while still maintaining the classic vibe and sound, ‘Conrado’ is certainly a guitarist to watch out for. Another Rainbow classic in ‘Since You Been Gone’ is also reworked and again is rather surprisingly good the vocals as you might expect are thunderous and solid while the ever impressive band seem tight and once more the guitarist ‘wow’ is all you can say. ‘Night Games’ is another impressive rework with a great mix from the boom of the bass to the Tssst of the high hats and the ever impressive vocals of Mr ‘Bonnet’
‘Schenker’ classics ‘Assault Attack’ Dancer’ ‘Desert Song’ also get the reworking and with out detracting from the originals they are very good works indeed, the band put together by ‘Bonnet’ handle all the reworkings with a great respect of the originals while adding a little bit of what they have to offer, and while some may prefer the originals you have to say these reworks are damn fine examples. If you have not purchased ‘The Book’ yet it would be highly advisable to add it to your Xmas list as it is pure class any self deserving classic rock fan shoud have ‘The Book’ in their collection.

Rating/10

GRAHAM BONNET BAND
Graham Bonnet – lead vocals
Conrado Pesinato – guitars
Jimmy Waldo – keyboards
Beth-Ami Heavenstone – bass
Mark Zonder – drums
Angelo Vafeiadis – keyboards on Cd2