Chickenfoot

When half your bandmembers are from Van Halen, comparisons with Guitarslinger Eddie’s band are inevitable. So it is with Chickenfoot. Fronted by onetime VH vocalist Sammy Hagar and with VH founding member Michael Anthony on bass, this supergroup with a funny name is rounded off by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. But at no time are they attempting to be another Van Halen. What the self-titled debut of this quartet manages to do is take their individual strengths and personalities, and deliver it in a neat little album that’s hard to not like. So you have Anthony’s vastly-underrated bass guitar and Smith’s funky drums underneath Hagar’s flamboyant vocals and Satriani’s rough-and-ready guitars.

This is Satriani’s second outing with a band, almost 15 years after the short-lived live stint with Deep Purple. And is he having a blast! His sound is more raw than usual, and huger. (Check out the sledgehammer riff kicking off ”˜Get It Up’ and the pounding rhythm of ”˜Avenida Revolucion.’) In fact, that’s what makes Chickenfoot such a pleasure to listen to: this is a fine example of good ol’ guitar-based rock, delivered from the heart. Especially when Hagar’s raucous vocals and Anthony’s backing vocals (usually underrated again) complete the package. Remember all those classic “driving” songs you would scream your guts out singing along to? Well, this is an album full of that same energy, an album you are likely to slip into your car’s CD player, crank the volume up to 11 and go vroooom with. On Chickenfoot, the boys are having fun, and it shows.