Sunday, August 30, 2009
A+E, Music, Reviews

CHICKENFOOT

 “CHICKENFOOT”  (REDLINE ENTERTAINMENT)

As eager as many are to dismiss anything with the insipid Sammy Hagar’s involvement, it’s tough to beat Chickenfoot’s debut for sheer guilty-pleasure goose bumps. This hairy, fist-pumping hard-rock supergroup, also featuring guitar pro Joe Satriani, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, is obviously accomplished and surprisingly listenable.

    Even without knowing the party-hardy resumes of the participants (OK, except for egghead technician Satriani), song titles like “Runnin’ Out,” “Oh Yeah,” “Get it Up” and “My Kinda Girl” set low, crowd-pleasing expectations.  That the band exceeds them isn’t so much an accomplishment as an acknowledgement of the professional, arena-rocking pedigrees at work here.

    Hagar’s chest-beating howl—let’s not call him a singer—is almost as effective as it was in his first band with another great guitarist, Ronnie Montrose. Satriani seems constricted by the narrower, some might say dumbed-down confines he has to work within, but he opens up impressively on tunes such as the blues-rocking “Down the Drain.”

   Any album with lyrics such as “‘This one’s for you’ is tattooed on her ass” is going to appeal to a male-dominated, cheap liquor-swigging demographic, despite the presence of the sappy, lighter-waving ballad “Learning to Fall.” But when Chickenfoot sticks to hard-rocking basics on the riff-happy “Turnin’ Left,” with Anthony and Smith thumping away like a locomotive and Satriani peeling off meaty licks that briefly indicate his substantial talent, all—well, most—is forgiven. 2.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz