Chickenfoot is a supergroup composed of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, the Red Hot Chili Pepper's drummer Chad Smith, and Forme Van Halen members Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar (also a very succesful solo artist). As an avid music fan I am very familiar with most of their pre-Chickenfoot music and they are all excellent musicians. However, Chickenfoot is a fairly recent endeavor having only one album (released in 2009) prior to this one. Their first album was very much a hit, and was a great success for the band, and thus lead them into their latest release, the second album titled Chickenfoot III.
This album opens with the track "Last Temptation". This songis a fun one that the band truly lets loose on, which is their specialty being that they are made up of such supreme members. Unfortunately with the first song comes my first complaint on the album: J. Satch's guitar tone. I love Satriani and have never heard him have this type of issue, but somewhere along the line, his tone got muddied up. I can not tell whether this problem stems from the producers or engineers of the album or whether Joe was messing around with different sounds and equipment, but for most of the album the sound sounds like its coming through a wall of cardboard. It is such a shame because musically the guitar playing is well done, but the sound is very weak. None the less this is a very fun tune to start the album on, especially compared to some of the darker material on the first album.
The second track "Alright, Alright" is another succesful track that gives homage to truly classic rock bands such as the Rolling Stones. This is a little different style for Chickenfoot as a band, but each member holds his own and does justice to such a classic sort of sound. The solo section is a little bit of a departure from the rest of the song as Satriani lets loose, and the break down is quite different as well, but the song returns to form and wraps up succesfully.
The third track "Different Devil" is perhaps the deepest and best song on the entire album. The song begins with and acoustic guitar strumming, glittered with electrick guitar chords. The sound of the acoustics is a refreshing change for Chickenfoot who remained electric throughout the first album other than the bonus track. This adds another layer of depth and dimension to the band. Hagar sings his heart out and really comes through on this track, really pulling in the audience.
The fourth song "Up Next" is a fairly solid track. This is where Chickenfoot begins to falter (similarly to Last Temptation) this song has very exciting punding music, but is more fit for serious hard core rock. This is alright, but Hagar wants to have a lot of fun with the lyrics which doesn't add up with the tone of the song. The melody and music backing Hagars voice takes on a very serious and heavy tone while his lyrics are just kinda for fun. This doesn't harm the song horrible, it is ust a reocurring element in Chickenfoot's music.
The fifth song "Lighten Up" is a similar song to "Up Next". It certainly delivers with the pounding rhythm section and excellent fills by Satriani, clearly demonstrating his Van Halen influence. How ever teh vocals feel just a tad bit off, not catastrophic, but enough to feel slightly out of place. This is perhaps the best demonstration of Joe Satriani's guitar skills on the album as he rips through a blinding solo. Overally this song is fun and really gets the audience pretty pumped.
The next song is titled "Come Closer". This song deals with many heavy societal issues, and is a much deeper song than most of those on the begining of the album. While Sammy Hagar does a good job singing on this song, it just doesn't pick up or have enough to draw the audience until the beautifully crafted guitar solo in the middle. In fact in that solo Satriani works his magic giving the solo a sound similar to an organ, this gives the song a sort of gospel feel. This song is just so-so overall, in my opinion it is a little too melancholy.
Perhaps the most experimental song to date for Chickenfoot is "Three and A Half Letters". This song consists of Sammy Hagar reading letters from his fans asking for finanncial help during this recession. The chorus is just Hagar wailing "I Need a Job" over heavy rock music. While I respect the effort and attempt behind this song, it almost hurts that the music and singing is so unpleasant. If instead of simply reading the letters, Hagar had sung them a wider audience would appreciate the song. This song is very raw and real, pressing down the real world problems unto it's audience. The other problem I have with the song lies within its music video which, while showing the unemployed army veteran, shows an actor portraying him sitting on the couch playing videos and looking helpless and useless. It is note worthy that Chickenfoot has since used this song a lot to promote many charities and funds to help those in need.
The lead single, and eighth song off the album is "Big Foot". This song returns to the silly party attitude that Hagar and Chickenfoot are used to. As good as this song is, I would say that it probably doesnt trump "Lighten Up" "Up Next" "Last Temptation" or even "Alright, Alright" for the lead single spot. The main problem with this song is that the main guitar riff isn't that fun. Once the song gets into the verse, and the chorus it picks up and is much better, but the opeining and main guitar part is a little bit annoying.
"Dubai Blues" the ninth track off the album is a great groovy jam by Satriani, Smith, and Anthony. The music laid down by this song is just so that as long as Hagar doesn't try to dominate it or do anything radical there is no way to ruin it. The shuffle of the drums ad the subtle but smooth guitar just makes the listener want to move and join in the song. This is the kind of music that Chickenfoot should try to stick to; it sound like the kind of song that happens when a guitar, bass, and drums just get together and spontaneously create something, with some singing joining in to give the audience something to sing along to. Hands down this is the most fun song on the album.
The tenth track "Something Gone Wrong" is a decent track. While it is more interesting than "Come Closer" it is a slow song focused around mostly acoustic guitar. This acoustic sound once again works well for the band, however this time it carries a rather Eastern tone to the music. The lyrical material for this song deals with the injustice and hardship experienced in the world. Once again Hagar is attempting to reach higer ground with a deeper and more spiritual approach, but it isn't overly succesful. Audiences can enjoy a beautiful song, but they aren't going to ind enlightenment beneath this ones lyrics.
The final song is the hidden track titled "No Change". While Hagar once again tries to be prolific in this song he comes off as a ranting raving songwriter yelling at "the man". Apparently we have all been "lied to" and cheated by our government/society/etc. I do not wish to turn this blog into a political discussion group, so the main point is that this song is too serious to be fun. The music is bland and at some points grating, even though the musicians are obviously talented. Musically, the band just needs to stick to having fun and jamming rather than overthinking what they are gonna play.
Overall this album is very much up and down. There are some really good songs and some not so good songs, and virtually each one of them different. Chickenfoot is still a young band, experimenting and deciding what works and what doesn't work for them. Personally one thing I would be interested to hear from them is a cover song seeing as they all have versatile backgrounds and Hagar has recorded many impressive cover songs in his career.
