by
Derek Smalls
- Record Label: BMG
- Release Date: Apr 13, 2018
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Apr 20, 2018If you have a soft spot for hard rock shredding but can’t appreciate its pompous contexts unironically, this is the album for you, with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Steve Lukather present and taking their eruptive tasks very seriously. A more eclectic guitar hero, Richard Thompson, even pops up to do the metal solo we always suspected he could.
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Classic Rock MagazineJun 6, 2018The histrionic power ballad title track is an undeniable hoot. It's just a shame that so little of the rest of the album makes any lasting impression. [May 2018, p.90]
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May 8, 2018A full orchestra occasionally adds more bloat to an already over-the-top sound.
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UncutApr 16, 2018Weirdly, it sounds like a modern-day Alice Cooper album.[May 2018, p.35]
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Apr 16, 2018By grounding it so heavily in the metal that served Spinal Tap so well, Shearer turns Smalls Change into a bit of a grueling hourlong experience--there may be the occasional taste of prog pomp or a Richard Thompson cameo, but it's all in the context of hard rock--but listened to as a series of EPs, the craft behind its silliness shines through and it's quite palatable. Which makes it not all that different from a John Entwistle album.
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Apr 25, 2018Is it funny? If you're a 15-year-old boy, you'll love it as there's enough toilet humor here to stun an Ox. Will it be funny after the first listen? Well, the jury is out. But probably not.
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Apr 16, 2018Shearer’s vocals, especially on a four-minute-plus opus like the title track, unfortunately demonstrate why he was never that band’s lead singer, detracting from another promising rock opera like “Faith No More.” For die-hard Tap fans only.
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MojoApr 23, 2018There's little dry about old guy jokes. [Jun 2018, p.97]b