Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot

Take vocalist Sammy Hagar (successful solo career before garnering even more fame in 1985 as front-man for Van Halen), guitar player Joe Satriani (widely regarded as a virtuoso in his field, having recorded a string of superb instrumental albums), drummer Chad Smith (a member of with the ultra-successful Red Hot Chili Peppers) and bassist Michael Anthony (who, with the aforementioned Van Halen, contributed to some of the greatest rock albums of all time), and what do you get? Erm…Chickenfoot?
 
Yes, the band's name is largely a joke, but their self-titled album certainly is not. Already a hit among fans looking for a hard-rock fix, it certainly lives up to the billing in terms of its genre, though unfortunately, as seemed inevitable, it can't live up to the legacy of the groups that the individuals once displayed their talents with.
 
The album's premier track, without question, is the dubiously-titled "Soap on a Rope", which features a fantastic foot-tapping, head-rolling riff from Satriani, and classic harmonies from Michael Anthony. The riff is a monster and yet somehow finds room for space to let it breathe, and it is interesting to hear "Satch" play a very Eddie Van Halen-esque solo in the middle section of the track, before providing something more familiar in the outro.
 
Speaking of which, the outros on this album play a huge part in it, with several of the tracks being lifted up a notch or two in the final 60 seconds. "Runnin' Out", "Get It Up", "Down The Drain", "Turnin' Left" and "Future In The Past" are all largely uninteresting by this band's creative standards, before the three-piece of Anthony, Satriani, and Smith tear it up. Perhaps this should have been a Satriani solo album with Anthony and Smith as guests.
 
Approaching the album in that "solo" manner may have been the best thing for the album too, as Satriani - either unconsciously or otherwise - reins himself in on far too many occasions here. Contrary to his solo work, the riffs are simple here, as if he's trying to stay out of the way of Hagar, and only when Hagar's vocal job is done does Satriani pipe up with his most proficient work. Even then, though, it just leaves you wanting more.
 
For his own part, Hagar's vocal performance on the album is staggering for a man of his vintage (he's 62 in October), singing like a guy who could kick the ass of 80% of front-men today. But his lyrics, unfortunately, sound like they came from a man born in the 1940s, who's still trying to party with the best of them. That, clearly, is his rock persona, but his lyrics during his years in Van Halen were inconsistent to say the least, and they've only regressed in the last 15 years.
 
If there is a joy to behold on "Chickenfoot", it's in the performance of Michael Anthony, cruelly shunned by Van Halen following the reunion tour with Hagar in 2004. But he proves here that Van Halen's loss is Chickenfoot's gain, providing the remarkable harmonies that were such an integral part of the VH sound, while also laying the foundation for Satriani to (as noted, sparingly) go wild.
 
Unlike the other members of the band, there's really little to say about Chad Smith's contribution, because the funk-pop that he's been used to playing on doesn't appear until the final track of the album "Future In The Past". Even there, the groove is really held down by Anthony, and truthfully Smith could have been any number of faceless drummers had his name not appeared in the liner notes.
 
Overall, "Chickenfoot" is an interesting album that doesn't live up to the hype created by fans of the individual members. Whether that was ever possible is a debatable subject, but this album is neither balls-to-the-wall rock'n'roll, nor is it a guitar pop album. It lacks the raucousness of the former, and, dare I say it, lacks the subtlety of Eddie Van Halen's melodies which would have made it the latter.