Comparing the Brian Howe era "Bad Company" to Bad Company (Paul Rodgers era...) - no way that a Brian Howe (he was a great singer and songwriter, and those radio hit songs are great!) album overshadows the original BC: Bad Company (1974) Straight Shooter (1975) Run with the Pack (1976)... those three albums are A+ classic's... I do think a Greatest Hits collection of the best of each era is needed... if you put all the Paul Rodgers hits/fan faves it would take 2 CD's... and 1 with the Brian Howe era... (side note: I did chat with Brian Howe a few times on Face Book when he would do online sessions... he was always very pleasant with fans, he was asked if he had ever met Paul Rodgers and he said once... he eluded that the meeting was polite, but reserved... Simon Kirke's drumming is simple, but masterful... (in a similar way that Charlie Watts was... overplaying doesn't make the music better...) Mick Ralphs did some good albums in the early 2010's with his blues band, sadly, he suffered a massive stroke and has retired completely from playing... his left side is totally paralyzed and he has aged hard due to his health, he is 77) One last thing... Bad Company has never even been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame... that is a travesty of huge proportions... how can Paul Rodgers not be in the RRHOF... Free/Bad Company/The Firm/Solo/Queen & Paul Rodgers.. come on... the original four need to be inducted... (I'd be cool with adding Brian Howe, like Sammy Hagar was with Van Halen... but that probably won't happen...) ending - if ever one band is the biggest glaring omission to the RRHOF - it is Bad Company.
@@DeanUSAMaleif I was inducted into the RRHF, I wouldn't show up. Like Richie Blackmore. RRHF has nothing rock and roll music, it's probably there to make money off musicians life's work.
Brian Howe had one the hardest jobs on earth in replacing one of the greatest frontmen of all time in Rodgers. About the only other ones who pulled it off were Hagar and Brian Johnson. I loved the Howe era, and was sad to see Bad Co. not play those songs live anymore. Those songs were massive and great hits!!! I am happy I got see see Bad Co. with Howe as well as Rodgers. That Damn Yankees tour was awesome. And Howe kept Bad Co. relevant until Rodgers came back. May Howe RIP.
Great video! I have slept on Bad Company for far too long. I have never taken a deep dive into their catalog, but I started today with Dangerous Age (so did my coworkers because I'm a DJ at a club) after this video and am not sorry. A fun listen! Keep up the excellent content. I love the Contrarians!
Best Bad Company album is the first album Bad Company. Can't Get Enough, Rock Steady, Ready For Love, Bad Company, Seagull... There's some great songs on that album. The second album Straight Shooter is great too and I'd rank it a pretty close 2nd. On a kind of side note, Paul Rodgers voice has aged incredibly well. Maybe better than any other singer I've heard.
I hate how the Bad Company camp tries to pretend these albums don't exist. I mean Holy Water went Platinum. And the tour with Damn Yankees was highly successful.
Bad Co. seemingly has at least 2 songs on every album (both eras) that bore me to tears. I remember owning the first 3 Brian Howe albums on cassette, but haven't found the desire to repurchase them. None of it is bad, but it's not overly memorable either.
I really like the Brian Howe era. I love Dangerous Age and Holy Water. Holy Water does have too many songs. I defend these albums hard. I think Brian is a great singer and I love 80's Glam and AOR and arena rock, so the production doesn't bother me. I wouldn't put these albums in my top 5 Bad Company albums probably, but I would put them higher than most.
Great episode Tim and Martin! Watching this reminds how much I really miss the album oriented rock (AOR) from this era. I bought this in 1988 (still have the cassette!) because I really dug "No Smoke Without a Fire" and especially "Shake It Up". I felt that Brian Howe did give them a shot in the arm and Mick Ralphs' guitar playing was still tasty and memorable. However, I feel that the Brian Howe albums (at least the last three) suffer the same fate: Strong first side, unmemorable second side. Holy Water is my favorite of this era but as you mentioned, too many songs. Having said that, it's a shame that the Brian Howe era has become ignored. You never hear these songs on the classic rock stations now. I have had SiriusXM for 9 years and I don't even think I've heard "If You Needed Somebody", a wonderful power ballad, on their Classic Rewind or Hair Nation channels.
Great video as always, and what a contrarian take from Tim! Agree with what Tim and others said: Bad Company is 'spotty', a 'singles' band'; only the hits stick out, a lot of their songs sound like each other, etc... So it's hard to pick a favourite album, but maybe the album on which I like the most songs is... Rough Diamonds (Contrarian too, innit?). I like Electricland, Untie The Knot, Painted Face, Kickdown, so that's 4. My Favourite song by them might be Burning Sky, but man does the album fall flat right after.
This band functions as a kind of solace for thinkers. It is the type of music that you can play while having a beer and its simple tropes and easy themes mediate the blues.
Great episode and good on Tim for backing this record and era of the band! Personally would argue none of Bad Co 'Albums' were classics per-se but found they all had a ton of top shelf 'tracks' on offer, and that was equal to both the Rodgers and Howe eras. Martin is spot on the Howe releases certainly got stuck in that period where nonsense bubblegum lyrics were a thing, but drop the needle and there's still a swag of great tunes to be had (not to mention those fantastic vocals!). Will argue forever and a day the four Howe studio albums were no less an experience as the original era but it all comes down to from where and which side of the times we were listening from, all good stuff, the power of music :) And yes shame on the band for ingoring this era (and fans of this period). All the same my vote would go to Holy Water Tim, but only by a small margin \m/
Now this is definitely a true Contrarian choice. I suspect most people would pick one of the Paul Rodgers albums and from those mostly from the first two? My favourite will always be Straight Shooter. I would place Dangerous Age as my favourite Brian Howe Bad Co album.
Wow! Very contrarian indeed! My fav Bad Co is also a contrarian, but not as much: Run with the Pack. I've never listened to Dangerous Age (I do have Fame & Fortune and Holy Water but don't really like them). Cool show! Cheers!
I do prefer Fame & Fortune myself, I recall it did good business in Germany at the time, it's a pretty damn fine and underrated radio friendly '80s AOR album but then again I've always loved the Penetrator album with Ted Nugent.
Great episode. I also favor the Brian Howe era of Bad Company. I may be a contrarian among contrarians, but I always enjoyed the Fame And Fortune record. To me, it's as good as Dangerous Age and Holy Water, and better than Here Comes Trouble (which I never connected with).
Well Tim I agree with you! Dangerous Age and Holy Water are the best Bad Company Albums! They are the only ones I can truly sit through (though I Can't Live Without You & 100 Miles need to be cut from the end of HW). The songs may be simple but they're straight ahead R'n'R with plenty of melodic flourishes (great 80's radio tunes). Brian Howe (RIP) was a great vocalist who is too often overlooked! The Paul Rodgers era did have great songs (Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy is their greatest song!) but too many "outlaw" songs and slow dirge like ballad types for me. Keep Rockin'!!
Martin popoff/contrarians this is the first time I've seen your show I've heard about you by listening to SOT with Pete on Friday. I asked him how to get your show to be able to listen to your shows. I don't know much about Bad Company.I have not albums by then just a couple of songs and a concert. I started listening to SoT in April and I've just started to listen to yours
I've been listening to Dangerous Age on spotify after hearing your review, and I have to say it's a pleasant 80's hard rock album, although I feel like Bad Co didn't have much of their identity anymore as it sounds a lot like Foreigner or even 80's Heep to my ears. Nevertheless, I'm positively surprised. Cheers!
Bad company was an excellent and underrated. Excellent debut album. Saw them with Styx opening up in Montreal. Styx blew them off the stage but for me bad company is simply amazing. The songs are great. Simon kirke is one of my favorite drummers. I would have LOVED to see Paul kosoff in bad company.
Let me get this straight: I love, just love Free and Bad Company but... they are the perfect compilation bands. You just need the greatest hits from them. In BC case the 1999 double " fat boy" cd. Everything you will ever need it's there. Great "Contrarians" video as always.
Bad Co released a couple stinkers with Paul. Fame and Fortune is a stinker with Brian. The other Brian albums are solid. Better than the Paul stinkers.
This is definitely one of the better Brian Howe era albums and I think Terry Thomas's hard edged production gives this album the classic bad company sound that fame and fortune totally missed
@@SuperStrik9 ya i dunno, i (marco) edited this one and I dont know a ton about Bad company, dunno how i found that photo that said Bad Company but showed Mott the Hoople
I like Fame and Fortune the most. I never saw this as BadCo....for what's in a name? They may have used the band name, Automatic, but they may have slipped into obscurity. Using the BadCo name was the only way to get the fan's attention.
I love the old Bad Company mainly because I was in my early 20s when it came out and it was a major deal big time with the label and record stores.But listening to them now your right all of the early albums had filler and are boring when I put them on now.Their live stuff does put some edge on their songs.I do think the Brian Howe records were pretty good when they came out and your right the lyrics you can throw away
Ok, Can't get enough and Bad Company are two great songs but I don't think they were a very good album band. My favourite of their albums is clearly Holy Water because the singer is fantastic and I love 80s mainstream hardrock. The song Stranger Stranger is so good. Love Nugents Penetrator too. So it must be the singer that makes me love it.
My favorite Bad Company album is the first one, even though I have not enjoyed it for years, due to how overplayed it is. I like Burning Sky, at least the first half of it.
It seems unfair to criticise the lyrics on the Brian Howe albums when Paul Rodgers wrote some of the most vapid, uninspired lyrics of the 70s. Back then, guys like Phil Lynott and Bon Scott proved you could be articulate while still being firmly rock 'n' roll, but Bad Company's lyrics were usually terrible.
This band never interested me for some reason. Could someone tell me why they are good? I just don't see the "punk" in them. Are they the quintessential generic band?
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Comparing the Brian Howe era "Bad Company" to Bad Company (Paul Rodgers era...) - no way that a Brian Howe (he was a great singer and songwriter, and those radio hit songs are great!) album overshadows the original BC: Bad Company (1974)
Straight Shooter (1975) Run with the Pack (1976)... those three albums are A+ classic's... I do think a Greatest Hits collection of the best of each era is needed... if you put all the Paul Rodgers hits/fan faves it would take 2 CD's... and 1 with the Brian Howe era... (side note: I did chat with Brian Howe a few times on Face Book when he would do online sessions... he was always very pleasant with fans, he was asked if he had ever met Paul Rodgers and he said once... he eluded that the meeting was polite, but reserved... Simon Kirke's drumming is simple, but masterful... (in a similar way that Charlie Watts was... overplaying doesn't make the music better...) Mick Ralphs did some good albums in the early 2010's with his blues band, sadly, he suffered a massive stroke and has retired completely from playing... his left side is totally paralyzed and he has aged hard due to his health, he is 77) One last thing... Bad Company has never even been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame... that is a travesty of huge proportions... how can Paul Rodgers not be in the RRHOF... Free/Bad Company/The Firm/Solo/Queen & Paul Rodgers.. come on... the original four need to be inducted... (I'd be cool with adding Brian Howe, like Sammy Hagar was with Van Halen... but that probably won't happen...) ending - if ever one band is the biggest glaring omission to the RRHOF - it is Bad Company.
@@DeanUSAMaleif I was inducted into the RRHF, I wouldn't show up. Like Richie Blackmore.
RRHF has nothing rock and roll music, it's probably there to make money off musicians life's work.
Brian Howe had one the hardest jobs on earth in replacing one of the greatest frontmen of all time in Rodgers. About the only other ones who pulled it off were Hagar and Brian Johnson.
I loved the Howe era, and was sad to see Bad Co. not play those songs live anymore. Those songs were massive and great hits!!! I am happy I got see see Bad Co. with Howe as well as Rodgers.
That Damn Yankees tour was awesome. And Howe kept Bad Co. relevant until Rodgers came back. May Howe RIP.
Great video! I have slept on Bad Company for far too long. I have never taken a deep dive into their catalog, but I started today with Dangerous Age (so did my coworkers because I'm a DJ at a club) after this video and am not sorry. A fun listen!
Keep up the excellent content.
I love the Contrarians!
Best Bad Company album is the first album Bad Company. Can't Get Enough, Rock Steady, Ready For Love, Bad Company, Seagull... There's some great songs on that album. The second album Straight Shooter is great too and I'd rank it a pretty close 2nd. On a kind of side note, Paul Rodgers voice has aged incredibly well. Maybe better than any other singer I've heard.
I hate how the Bad Company camp tries to pretend these albums don't exist. I mean Holy Water went Platinum. And the tour with Damn Yankees was highly successful.
Ya! Kind of a shame!
Amen my friends. They cannot rewrite history, especially successful history.
Bad Co. seemingly has at least 2 songs on every album (both eras) that bore me to tears. I remember owning the first 3 Brian Howe albums on cassette, but haven't found the desire to repurchase them. None of it is bad, but it's not overly memorable either.
I really like the Brian Howe era. I love Dangerous Age and Holy Water. Holy Water does have too many songs. I defend these albums hard. I think Brian is a great singer and I love 80's Glam and AOR and arena rock, so the production doesn't bother me. I wouldn't put these albums in my top 5 Bad Company albums probably, but I would put them higher than most.
Great episode Tim and Martin! Watching this reminds how much I really miss the album oriented rock (AOR) from this era. I bought this in 1988 (still have the cassette!) because I really dug "No Smoke Without a Fire" and especially "Shake It Up". I felt that Brian Howe did give them a shot in the arm and Mick Ralphs' guitar playing was still tasty and memorable. However, I feel that the Brian Howe albums (at least the last three) suffer the same fate: Strong first side, unmemorable second side. Holy Water is my favorite of this era but as you mentioned, too many songs. Having said that, it's a shame that the Brian Howe era has become ignored. You never hear these songs on the classic rock stations now. I have had SiriusXM for 9 years and I don't even think I've heard "If You Needed Somebody", a wonderful power ballad, on their Classic Rewind or Hair Nation channels.
Great video as always, and what a contrarian take from Tim!
Agree with what Tim and others said: Bad Company is 'spotty', a 'singles' band'; only the hits stick out, a lot of their songs sound like each other, etc... So it's hard to pick a favourite album, but maybe the album on which I like the most songs is... Rough Diamonds (Contrarian too, innit?). I like Electricland, Untie The Knot, Painted Face, Kickdown, so that's 4. My Favourite song by them might be Burning Sky, but man does the album fall flat right after.
This band functions as a kind of solace for thinkers. It is the type of music that you can play while having a beer and its simple tropes and easy themes mediate the blues.
Great episode and good on Tim for backing this record and era of the band! Personally would argue none of Bad Co 'Albums' were classics per-se but found they all had a ton of top shelf 'tracks' on offer, and that was equal to both the Rodgers and Howe eras. Martin is spot on the Howe releases certainly got stuck in that period where nonsense bubblegum lyrics were a thing, but drop the needle and there's still a swag of great tunes to be had (not to mention those fantastic vocals!). Will argue forever and a day the four Howe studio albums were no less an experience as the original era but it all comes down to from where and which side of the times we were listening from, all good stuff, the power of music :) And yes shame on the band for ingoring this era (and fans of this period). All the same my vote would go to Holy Water Tim, but only by a small margin \m/
I'm not a huge Free fan, but "Heartbreaker" and "Wishing Well" are two other really good songs by them!
Now this is definitely a true Contrarian choice. I suspect most people would pick one of the Paul Rodgers albums and from those mostly from the first two? My favourite will always be Straight Shooter. I would place Dangerous Age as my favourite Brian Howe Bad Co album.
Wow! Very contrarian indeed! My fav Bad Co is also a contrarian, but not as much: Run with the Pack. I've never listened to Dangerous Age (I do have Fame & Fortune and Holy Water but don't really like them). Cool show! Cheers!
I do prefer Fame & Fortune myself, I recall it did good business in Germany at the time, it's a pretty damn fine and underrated radio friendly '80s AOR album but then again I've always loved the Penetrator album with Ted Nugent.
Nobody seems to consider Run With the Pack on par with the first 2, and I'm not sure why. For me, I like the first 3 pretty equally.
@@HuddshouseofRockNMetal As Tim said, probably because it all was starting to sound the same
Great episode. I also favor the Brian Howe era of Bad Company. I may be a contrarian among contrarians, but I always enjoyed the Fame And Fortune record. To me, it's as good as Dangerous Age and Holy Water, and better than Here Comes Trouble (which I never connected with).
Well Tim I agree with you! Dangerous Age and Holy Water are the best Bad Company Albums! They are the only ones I can truly sit through (though I Can't Live Without You & 100 Miles need to be cut from the end of HW). The songs may be simple but they're straight ahead R'n'R with plenty of melodic flourishes (great 80's radio tunes). Brian Howe (RIP) was a great vocalist who is too often overlooked! The Paul Rodgers era did have great songs (Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy is their greatest song!) but too many "outlaw" songs and slow dirge like ballad types for me. Keep Rockin'!!
I totally agree with the guy …dangerous age is my #1 bad company album
So close. It’s Holy Water. But dangerous age is a close second
Martin popoff/contrarians this is the first time I've seen your show I've heard about you by listening to SOT with Pete on Friday. I asked him how to get your show to be able to listen to your shows. I don't know much about Bad Company.I have not albums by then just a couple of songs and a concert. I started listening to SoT in April and I've just started to listen to yours
cool thanks Melanie, hope you enjoy the show and stick around for a while!
For me its run with the pack...for the title track alone..everything i love about rock music..great lp sleeve too..hi from england chaps!!
I've been listening to Dangerous Age on spotify after hearing your review, and I have to say it's a pleasant 80's hard rock album, although I feel like Bad Co didn't have much of their identity anymore as it sounds a lot like Foreigner or even 80's Heep to my ears. Nevertheless, I'm positively surprised. Cheers!
Bad company was an excellent and underrated. Excellent debut album. Saw them with Styx opening up in Montreal. Styx blew them off the stage but for me bad company is simply amazing. The songs are great. Simon kirke is one of my favorite drummers. I would have LOVED to see Paul kosoff in bad company.
I liked Mick Ralphs better, like his guitar playing better and he even wrote a lot of the first record when he was in Mott.
Let me get this straight: I love, just love Free and Bad Company but... they are the perfect compilation bands. You just need the greatest hits from them. In BC case the 1999 double " fat boy" cd. Everything you will ever need it's there. Great "Contrarians" video as always.
I remember getting that double cd anthology in 99. A great compilation.
Interesting that you compared them to Tesla. Both bands used Terry Thomas as a producer.
Bad Co released a couple stinkers with Paul. Fame and Fortune is a stinker with Brian. The other Brian albums are solid. Better than the Paul stinkers.
This is definitely one of the better Brian Howe era albums and I think Terry Thomas's hard edged production gives this album the classic bad company sound that fame and fortune totally missed
Nice pic of the original Mott The Hoople lineup ... I thought Rough Diamonds was a bunch of studio out takes and left overs
haha it happens!
Lol at first I was like why is Ian Hunter in Bad Company lol?
@@SuperStrik9 ya i dunno, i (marco) edited this one and I dont know a ton about Bad company, dunno how i found that photo that said Bad Company but showed Mott the Hoople
@@thecontrarians2438 It's all good man. No big deal. Just found it funny.
Dangerous Age . Extremely underated !
I like Fame and Fortune the most. I never saw this as BadCo....for what's in a name? They may have used the band name, Automatic, but they may have slipped into obscurity. Using the BadCo name was the only way to get the fan's attention.
I love the old Bad Company mainly because I was in my early 20s when it came out and it was a major deal big time with the label and record stores.But listening to them now your right all of the early albums had filler and are boring when I put them on now.Their live stuff does put some edge on their songs.I do think the Brian Howe records were pretty good when they came out and your right the lyrics you can throw away
I personally like all 3 albums with vocalist Brian.
Ok, Can't get enough and Bad Company are two great songs but I don't think they were a very good album band. My favourite of their albums is clearly Holy Water because the singer is fantastic and I love 80s mainstream hardrock. The song Stranger Stranger is so good. Love Nugents Penetrator too. So it must be the singer that makes me love it.
Seriously lol! Not a very good album band? Wow!
"Not a good album band"?????...wow!
Bravo! It was a really great album and it's a shame rock fans shun it.
My favorite Bad Company album is the first one, even though I have not enjoyed it for years, due to how overplayed it is. I like Burning Sky, at least the first half of it.
The BEST company album is the debut. My favorite however is Fame and Fortune. I’m sorry but I’m a sucker for really good pop
It seems unfair to criticise the lyrics on the Brian Howe albums when Paul Rodgers wrote some of the most vapid, uninspired lyrics of the 70s. Back then, guys like Phil Lynott and Bon Scott proved you could be articulate while still being firmly rock 'n' roll, but Bad Company's lyrics were usually terrible.
They should’ve never called the group Bad Company after the album Rough Diamonds. It’s sounds nothing like the original band
😄👍👍
This band never interested me for some reason. Could someone tell me why they are good? I just don't see the "punk" in them. Are they the quintessential generic band?
Ha ha, yes, the anti-punks, plus the quintessential generic band. Meaning... best ever generic band?!