Mr. Big started as a “supergroup” of sorts, with bassist Billy Sheehan being the most well known due to his stint with David Lee Roth (and Talas before that). Because of his bass prowess, we know his band Mr. Big would be heavy on the shred. What set them apart was the blue eyed soul of singer Eric Martin. Their debut record possessed the speediest chops imaginable, but used sparingly. It’s a song-oriented album, with “Addicted to that Rush” leading off with heavy space-age playing. Unfortunately nothing else is as memorable, except the Humble Pie cover “30 Days in the Hole”.
Tracks like “Had Enough”, “How Can You Do What You Do”, “Rock & Roll Over” and “Merciless” are all competent rock tunes, and due to Billy’s bass, the bottom end is unbelievable. Unfortunately it took Mr. Big one more album to really come up with the songwriting goods. Their debut is fine enough indeed, but folks who dig the playing will be sticking around. Those looking for soul and memorable hooks will have to dig deep. There is good stuff here, but little that will make repeated spins in the CD player months and years down the road. Good, but not quite good enough.
Part 2 of a 2 part Mr. Big special. Click here if you missedLean Into It!
MR. BIG – “Green Tinted Sixties Mind” (1991 Warner UK 7″ single)
I won’t talk about the song “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind”; I did that already. (In short: “classy and cool”.) I picked up this 7″ promo import from the UK from a record show in London (Ontario). At $5, it was a no-brainer purchase. The sleeve is cardboard, not paper, and pretty cool.
I was in the dark as to what the B-side “Shadows” was. The label indicated the song is from 1990, and produced by Giorgio Moroder. Although it’s not credited as such, that would make the song from the Navy Seals soundtrack. They didn’t write it, so it doesn’t sound like Mr. Big. It’s very “hard rock” circa 1990. I could swear parts of the verse melody are directly ripped off of Whitesnake. So, “Shadows” is a curiosity, nothing to get too excited about.
I know there was a second song from the Navy Seals soundtrack called “Strike Like Lightning”, if you’re interested in tracking it down. Also on the soundtrack was Bon Jovi’s cover of “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Try” by Blue freakin’ Rodeo! How the hell did that happen?
MR. BIG – “To Be With You” (1992 Warner Europe CD single)
Like with the other single, I want to focus on the B-sides. I will say that this version of “To Be With You” is an uncredited edit version. It’s 6 seconds shorter and lacks the count-in. This German import CD single has three live tracks. I found this one at Fairview Mall in Kitchener, an incredible score for the time!
Mr. Big sound like they are killer live. “30 Days In the Hole” is more spontaneous and funky than its album counterpart. It’s a lot more fun, and man could this band groove. The Tokyo crowd clearly loves it too.
In crashes the old Talas/David Lee Roth speed demon, “Shy Boy”! The band can pull it off musically, Sheehan repeating his bass magic, and Gilbert having no problem with a lightning fast solo. The only one who can’t keep up is vocalist Eric Martin. His normal soulful voice isn’t right for a song that was defined by David Lee Roth.
The final track is a medley. They first tease the Japanese audience with the first couple minutes of “Woman From Tokyo”, before switching gears to “Baba O’Riley”. It’s all but seamless, and natural. Gilbert plays the synth lines, but on his guitar. Meanwhile Sheehan handles the riff, on his bass. Martin shines on this one, much more at home with a song like this. He really gets to stretch out, and I love it. Sounds like Gilbert singing Townsend’s vocal part. Really cool.
Today, the album. Tomorrow, the singles! Yes it’s a two-part Mr. Big feature! Happy long weekend, hope you’re partying safely!
MR. BIG – Lean Into It (1991 Atlantic)
Yeah yeah yeah…”To Be With You”! As Mr. Big said themselves on a later album, “Get over it”!
I’ve always considered Mr. Big to be more shred-lite than glam metal or pop metal. After all, with credentials like these…Talas…Racer X…Impelliteri…these guys know how to play. Eric Martin is a unique blue-eyed-soul singer, one of a kind, absolutely brilliant. Martin and the band also know how to write catchy hard rock tunes. Combine that with their playing pedigree and adventurous arrangements, and I’ll call ’em shred-lite if you let me. And this is a pretty damn good album for rockers who want just a touch of integrity in their pop.
The opener kicks you right in the nuts with one of the best Big tunes ever, “Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)” (whew). The album starts with an adrenaline rush straight to the head. Why the “Electric Drill Song”? Because it opens with the sound of Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan playing their instruments with electric drills with guitar picks glued to the bit! In unison? Basically spoofing the whole “How fast can you play?” question, Big’s creativity make this speed rocker a standout.
“Alive and Kickin'” is nothing more than a hard rocker with soulful vocal and killer chorus, but “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind” is classy and cool. Pure pop with an incredible retro melody and adventurous guitar arrangement, this first single went tragically ignored. I don’t remember it getting much airplay though it deserved it. I’m not sure if the world of 1991 would have accepted a song like this from a hard rock band.
“CDFF – Lucky This Time” is another weird title. See, “CDFF” stands for CD Fast Forward which is the sound you’re hearing at the opening of this rather ordinary ballad. The only thing really oustanding about this song is Billy’s rumbling bass groove. The guy doesn’t sound like anybody else, and he raises the song to another level. “CDFF” is followed by the cool and swampy “Voodoo Kiss”, which ended side 1 of the original album.
Side 2 kicked off with another pop rocker, “Never Say Never”, co-written by Canada’s own Jim Vallance. Catchy but non-descript. “Just Take My Heart” is the second ballad, and a forgettable song to me. “My Kinda Woman” kicks the adrenaline back in. Yet it is Paul Gilbert’s “A Little Too Loose” that rekindles the creative fires on this album. Bluesy and fun, this was one of the high points of this record. “Road To Ruin” shows off the vocal harmonies of the guys, all good singers in their own right. It’s another creative arrangement. Then, of course, the album ends with “To Be With You” which, hard to believe, was actually a really creative song too! Before it got played to death. Now, it’s the typical rock ballad, but at the time of release, it was very different from the kind of ballads that other bands were putting out, except possibly Extreme. It has a sparse, vocal-oriented arrangement, an acoustic guitar solo, and no drums to speak of.
Tomorrow we’ll be talking about two singles from this album “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind”, and “To Be With You” itself, both of which have worthwhile rare songs!
MR. BIG – Mr. Big (1989 Atlantic)
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