Introducing an unexpected gem of a reunion album from a Sunset Strip band that never made it as big as the groups with which it shared the stage — including Van Halen and The Motels. The 2004 suicide of original lead singer Barry Leech and his subsequent funeral led the remaining members of Bluebeard (who released a lone album in 1979 called Bad Dream) to regroup and finish what Leech and the rest of them started so long ago.
The result is Deluxe With Reverb, a modern-day classic-rock album made by musicians who aren't afraid to embrace their musical past with multipart harmonies, Boston-like guitars and easy-going hooks. Heck, they even shamlessly name-check Ed Sullivan and the Beach Boys in the same song! Featuring four original members (plus Leech's voice on a few tracks) along with producer/keyboardist Barry Fasman and new vocalist Ellington Erin, Deluxe With Reverb sounds like a reunion album made for all the right reasons — especially considering that Bluebeard never reached much more than cult status.
The album proper ends with an eerie 72 seconds of crowd noise during the encore of a 1979 show at L.A.'s Whisky A Go Go, before bouncing into a remastered and remixed version of the catchy title track from Bad Dream featuring Leech on vocals. Leech also shows up backing Erin on a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," which Bluebeard originally recorded back in the day.
It all adds up to 62 minutes of glorious and timeless classic rock.
Track Listing:
1) I Don't Know About Me
2) Paint It Black
3) How Difficult Is That?
4) The Sleeper & The Dreamer
5) Love Is Nowhere
6) Pretty Vegas
7) Authority Man
8) Take A Little Time Out
9) A Love to Rescue Me
10) Sad Forgotten Song
11) Give
12) In the Streets of L.A.
13) Forever and Beyond
14a) Whisky A Go Go Encore 1979
14b) Bad Dream
15) Love Is Nowhere (Alternate Version)
16) Take A Little Time Out (Radio Edit)
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
