#368: Bad Company - Bad Company (1974)

Zack: When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the idea of releasing a song off an album under a band name that were all the same thing. Like, you know how artists will often have an eponymous album? I wanted to do that, but also have a single on said album that was titled the same as the album and the band. I don’t know why I wanted to do that so badly. Maybe because I am oddly obsessive about weird stuff (probably that). Maybe it’s because it’s a super cool idea (definitely not that). Or maybe it’s because I was really supposed to be in Bad Company, since they apparently thought it would be cool to do that exact thing. I certainly think it’s cool, but now I need to write a review about the album by the band that features the song titled Bad Company and at any time I could be referring to one level and the reader will have no idea which if I’m not explicit. Which means my dream was discerned, not deferred, but now deters. This is simultaneously some deep and inexplicably shallow shit. Anyway, Bad Company (the album) is better than I thought it would be. It has a bit of a Led Zeppelin-lite vibe to it. At some stages it has a hard rock vibe to it, and not the kind that borders on cheesy. At other times it slips into a nice ballad stage that, once again, avoids being cheesy. I’d never really been particularly interested in Bad Company, but I wish I’d picked them up in like the 10^th grade. I think I would have loved this album then, instead of just mildly appreciating it like I do now.

Favorite Tracks: Bad Company; Don’t Let Me Down; Seagull

Emily: We've been on a roll of a whole bunch of British bands that were big in their home countries but barely made a blip overseas. Sometimes they're quite good, but frequently they're just not that interesting and we had better stuff going on over here in America anyway. Bad Company is kind of one of those bands, and I think they fall into the second category. The band did have some success in the U.S., but moreso in the U.K. And while their self-titled debut is a solid rock effort, it's really not all that unique. It sounded like generic '70s classic rock - certainly not the worst thing to listen to, but a whole slew of bands definitely did it better and left a greater impact.

Favorite Tracks: Ready for Love; Movin' On; The Way I Choose