Bring 'em Bach Alive!

Bring 'em Bach Alive!

Sebastian Bach & Friends

Spitfire Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/02/1999

Sebastian Bach seemed to be headed towards becoming the answerto a question in "Trivial Pursuit." After his departure from theband Skid Row, both Bach and his bandmates struggled to find theirown musical identities - only to be greeted with indifferencethanks to a changing musical scene.

Now, in the midst of rumors about his own musical future, Bachgathers a group of musical partners in crime to form Sebastian Bach& Friends. Combining a mixture of new studio tracks and are-hash of Skid Row songs recorded live in Japan, Bring 'Em Bach Alive! tries to recapture the glory days ofthe past.

Bach's vocals have deepened a bit, giving the live material amore mature sound - and, dare I say it, a little more credibility.That said, though, I question how long Bach will be able to sing asong like "Youth Gone Wild" without it becoming a self-parody, likeThe Who singing, "Hope I die before I get old."

The personnel on this disc flips a little bit between the studioband and the live act. Anton Fig handles the drum work in thestudio, while Mark "BAMBAM" McConnell smacks the skins in the liveset. Otherwise, the group is pretty stable with bassist Larry (whydo I have a Newhart sketch running in my head all of a sudden?) andguitarists Jimmy Flemion and Richie Scarlet. (Oh, friendly word ofadvice: Lose those ridiculous fucking costumes. Christ, the guydressed as "The Angel"... that looks like a cross between Liberaceand Kiss. And, Sebastian, I didn't realize people still could makea suit out of Reynolds Wrap. 'Nuff said.)