Black Country Communion: "2"

The second Black Country Communion album is simply named "2". The heavy blues rock supergroup has turned into a real band, not just a side-project. Four individuals have melted into one, sharing a love for Seventies rock - it doesn't hurt that bass player and singer Glenn Hughes was already at large then, playing in Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

For the second effort the band allows the tracks to breathe - some of them are over six minutes long. Guitar player Joe Bonamassa steps up to the microphone to handle the vocals for acoustic guitar driven Battle For Hadrian’s Wall and An Ordinary Son. Keyboard player Derek Sherinian is more prominent in the mix and Jason Bonham is a hard-hitting drummer who can lay down rock solid beats and enhance the drive of a song by leaping over the bar with gusto.

The buzz around the album reached a peak when it revealed that the track Save Me is build upon a song recorded during the discontinued Page, Jones and Bonham sessions after the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion concert. Hughes finished the track and came up with the lyrics, but it is in fact the sole weak spot on the album - tons of echo and a very Eighties sounding production job. The band seems to know it too, serving up a barn storming Smokestack Woman next. Little Secret is showcase for Bonamassa's guitar tone - about halfway George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

A good classic rock album contains at least one ballad and the album's closer Cold will grace the airwaves of many radio station for years to come. Hughes holds back during the first part of the song and ups his volume a couple notches after each of the inspired Bonamassa's solos.