REVIEW: Glenn Hughes – Resonate (2016 Japanese version)

scan_20170131-4GLENN HUGHES – Resonate (2016 Frontiers Japan)

Glenn Hughes has been consistently prolific since a mid-90s comeback.  Lean, clean n’ mean, Glenn Hughes has reclaimed his title as The Voice of Rock.  His latest solo album Resonate made numerous top albums of 2016 lists.  The only reason he didn’t make ours is that we were holding out to get the Japanese version with the exclusive track.  In Japan they call him “The God of Voice” and this CD easily demonstrates why.

It is pointless to break this CD down song by song.  They are all incredible.  They represent the kind of hard rock that Deep Purple made famous: riffs, heavy organ, and incredible lead vocals.  In the Deep Purple days, it seemed Glenn’s soulful croon didn’t always fit in with heavy rock, which made them that more unique.  Today, Glenn sounds at home.  Resonate is consistently heavy, and impressive at every turn.  There are no big star names in his band, but Glenn’s old buddy Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers has two guest shots:  “Heavy” and “Long Time Gone”, the opener and closer on the standard tracklist.  Smith is always a joy to listen to, and when he works with Glenn, it’s the heaviest Chad Smith gets.  Glenn on bass and Chad on drums:  it seldom gets better than that.

Everyone will pick their own favourites, but one that we can’t put down is “Landmines”.  The funky electric boogie is one of the album highlights; a real hard rock dance number to get down to.  On “Landmines”, Glenn’s current self meets his 70s persona.  That should create a time travel paradox, but it doesn’t.  All it fuels is one hell of a boogie woogie oogie.  Runner up:  “Steady”.  But any of these songs can slide in and out of the top spot on a given day.

The Japanese bonus track is an acoustic version of the ballad “When I Fall”.  In some respects it’s better than the album version, but it’s all just a matter of taste.  The Zeppelin-like mellotron is delightful.  The only bummer is that the Japanese version doesn’t have the song “Nothing’s the Same”.  That’s OK; the domestic version of Resonate has that and a bonus DVD.  It’s a killer acoustic cover of a lesser known Gary Moore song, and it is worth buying the album again for.  It doesn’t matter which version you go for.  Resonate kills.

4.5/5 stars

36 comments

  1. Chad Smith’s a terrific drummer – doesn’t have to be flashy, just always seems to play the right drum part, sounds like they’d make a formidable drum/bass pairing here!
    And I agree, with those albums where every track’s a winner, it’s tough to go track-by-track.
    Did I correctly read that the Japanese version is missing a track? Is this perhaps the first time the Japanese version didn’t get all the best stuff??

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    1. Not the first time Geoff, and not the last. Basically any time you see me owning multiple versions of the same album, then the Japanese did not have all the bonus tracks. It’s actually fairly common. The last TWO Whitesnake albums were like that.

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  2. I listened to most of this online and it seems like a solid effort. I went through a phase of buying lots of Glenn’s stuff but I don’t have much of a hankering for his solo stuff these days. If I get that back I’m sure I’ll buy this.

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  4. I’m very interested in this one, but still on the fence about picking it up. I thought Heavy was great, but I wasn’t too keen on Long Time Gone. I’ll check out Landmines and Steady before deciding whether to go for it!

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  5. I need this. I’m not sure why I don’t have it yet. A 4.5 from Lebrain for a 65 year old dude is pretty awesome.

    According to Discogs there is a Japanese, limited version that has 13 songs and the dvd.

    I may buy the domestic dvd version since I don’t get the Lebrain discount.

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    1. I have a multi-region, a lot of people don’t know this, but most generic DVD players that can buy for $20 at Canadian Tire have no region codes. Only thing is, it’s a shitty player. But it does the trick. I will always buy a domestic DVD when available, since I can play it anywhere.

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        1. Please refrain from all this titillation. Some things are breast left to the imagination, Mike.

          On a side note, cans you refresh my mammary by flashing your high beams, what ZZ Top album was Pearl Necklace on?

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        1. I am going to interview him, ask the same questions, but include one bonus question, and ask the question in Japanese. Therefore I will have the much rarer interview.

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  9. What a monster of an album this is. In my opinion, this is Glenn’s finest album to date. His solo career has been like a roller coaster when it comes to the quality of the songs but he has never sounded so focused and honest ever.

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