The 'Original' Bad Company Anthology

Featuring the voice of Paul Rodgers, one of rock's greatest singers, the thoroughly excellent Original Bad Company Anthology re-establishes Bad Company as a force in the music world. The 33-song, two-CD set contains all the classic songs that made the band a top-selling recording and concert attraction, as well as four brand new songs and six B-sides and outtakes. The new songs are (surprise!) awesome. The only downfall of this album are the exclusion of tunes like "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Electricland".

What You Hear is What You Get -The Best of Bad Company Live...

With only their original guitarist and drummer intact, Bad Company flail away at all of their trademark rockers, winding up sounding like a distasteful parody of the real thing.

Here Comes Trouble

The repeated AOR formula was sinking the Brian Howe led Bad Company's ship-and fast. Interest began to wane as the group churned out another single, "How About That". This would be the final studio album Howe to appear in.

Holy Water

Holy Water is a formulaic yet reasonably engaging collection of AOR hard rock. Although the only original members on Holy Water are guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke, the band does a fair job of approximating the sound of classic Bad Company while adding enough elements of '80s pop-metal to make the record sound appealing. What that success signals is not a creative rebirth for the band, but that the group knew how to follow a formula very well. Holy Water hasn't aged as well as their original hit albums -- instead of the clean, ballsy attack of the first two albums, it's awash in echo and synths -- but it is a finely crafted, big-budget record of the late '80s and early '90s. It's just as indicative of its era as Bad Company is.

Dangerous Age

Bad Company launched a major comeback in 1988 with Dangerous Age. It wasn't the original lineup, lacking Paul Rodgers, but Mick Ralphs was still on board, and he could still turn out some pretty solid numbers, like the title track and "No Smoke Without Fire". The album also suffers from a slick, late-'80s AOR production, but compared to some of the albums that came later, Dangerous Age was satisfying.

Fame and Fortune

Singer Paul Rodgers leaves Bad Company to join the supergroup The Firm with Jimmy Page. Enter former Ted Nugent singer Brian Howe. Definitely a whole new ball game here. Fame and Fortune abandons the classic rock sound and is an unadulterated excursion into AOR territory. The songs are highly melodic, lyrically unsophisticated, and aim to please with a memorable chorus. Not their best album to me, reminds me of Foreigner.

10 From 6

A single album compilation of Bad Company tunes from the Paul Rodgers years. Although it is not a bad overview of the band, I feel that a double album would better cover the best stuff from Bad Company.

Rough Diamonds

After a three year hiatus, Bad Company returns to action with a new album, Rough Diamonds. Received poorly and critically dismissed due to a mellower approach. Personally, I think its underrated. Paul Rodgers and the boys shine on tunes like "Electricland" and "Untie the Knot". Nevertheless, Paul Rodgers departed soon after the the album release.

Desolation Angels

The good news is that Desolation Angels is a noticeable improvement from 1977's Burnin' Sky, with Bad Company's sound taking on a smoother, more polished feel than its predecessor. Tunes like "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy", "Gone, Gone, Gone," and "Oh, Atlanta" worked in the band's favor, pushing the album past the double platinum mark. The tunes I loved here were "Crazy Circles" and "Evil Wind".

Washington, DC 1978

Basically what I have here is a taped bootleg of Bad Company live in Washington DC circa 1978. Nothing more known here except for an excellent set of songs including some from a yet unreleased Desolation Angels. Since Bad Company never released a live album from their heyday with Paul Rodgers, it's the only documentation I have from them in concert from back then.

Burnin' Sky

The string finally ran out for Bad Company with their fourth album, Burnin' Sky. Their approach was so simple that it almost inevitably became formulaic, yielding only one single, the title track. This album may be a little rougher around the edges than the previous ones, yet die hard Bad Company fans will like this one.

Run wIth the Pack

It was no surprise they wouldn't mess with the formula on this, Bad Company continues their streak of hits. Radio friendly anthems such as the remake of the Coaster's "Young Blood", "Live for the Music" and the title track became concert favorites. The gorgeous "Silver, Blue and Gold" remains a favorite on the classic rock airwaves...

Straight Shooter

Though not quite as strong as their predecessor, Straight Shooter does bring some strong material up to the plate. The Paul Rodgers penned ballads "Shooting Star" and "Feel Like Makin' Love" would live on forever in the annals of great rock history. The rest the album however containing the rockers of "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", "Wild Fire Woman" and "Deal With the Preacher" remain regular staples on classic rock radio.

Bad Company

Bad Company's 1974 self-titled release stands as one of the most important and accomplished debut hard rock albums from the '70s. Though hardly visionary, it was one of the most successful steps in the continuing evolution of rock & roll. This album signified a return to more primal, stripped-down rock & roll. Throughout the 35-minute album, Paul Rodgers' mesmerizing and gritty vocals hardly vary in tonal quality, offering a perfect complement to Mick Ralphs' blues-based guitar work.