Soul Mover

For those of you who are only familiar with a small handful of Glenn Hughes' work, besides having one of the most distinctive, warm and soulful voices in rock music, he's a very prolific writer and has been busy releasing a steady stream of albums since his exit from Deep Purple in 1976. Before his brief stint in Deep Purple Mark II (with David Coverdale), Glenn was a member of the band Trapeze that enjoyed some success in the early 70's. His Deep Purple years lasted from 1973 to 1976 and was involved in three of the band's albums; Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band (with the late Tommy Bolin on guitar). The dual vocals of both him and David Coverdale infused a more bluesy and soulful vibe into Deep Purple's music. After Deep Purple dissolved in late 1976 (before being reborn with the classic line-up in 1984), Glenn collaborated with guitarist Pat Thrall in the Hughes/Thrall project. He's also made guest appearances on many other albums more notably Gary Moore's Run For Cover album and Black Sabbath's Seventh Star album which was originally to be a Toni Iommi solo album. Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes collaborated again with The 1996 DEP Sessions that was just released late last year and they've recently completed another album together entitled Fused that will be out later this year. Glenn has enjoyed much success as a solo artist and tours regularly throughout Europe, Japan and South America. Since the early 90's, he's released many albums which varied in sound from hard rock to blues to more R & B based material. Whatever the style of music on his albums, the strong, soulful voice was always a huge presence. In recent years, he's collaborated with Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) with the Hughes/Turner project, releasing two albums thus far. Over the last several solo albums, we've seen Glenn getting back to his hard rock roots of the 70's and this new album, Soul Mover is no exception. Helping out with the album are long time guitarist and collaborator J.J. Marsh, drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and guitarist Dave Navarro (Janes Addiction, ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers) who plays on two tracks.

The title track Soul Mover really gets things going with a booming Hendrix style guitar riff by guitarist Dave Navarro and a great funky groove. Glenn's voice sounds as great as it ever has and the track has a catchiness that is instantly likeable. The funky guitar/bass groove is found with many of the tracks and Glenn's use of self-harmonized vocals for most of the tracks give the whole album a retro 70's vibe. She Moves Ghostly, with it's use of latin percussion and layered vocals is a prime example. Other tracks like High Road, Orion and Isolation use more Deep Purple style riffs and melodies and bring the listener back to the Burn and Stormbringer era of Deep Purple Mark II. Tony Iommi's influence can be heard with the heavy riffs for the track Let It Go which also features a very strong vocal by Glenn and solid expressive lead guitar by guitarist J.J. Marsh. There aren't any ballads on this album but a few of the tracks namely Change Yourself, Isolation, Last Mistake and Don't Let Me Bleed have a blend of quiet reflective passages mixed in with booming and heavier ones. Glenn's soaring voice with lots of layering combined with the expressive lead guitar work of J.J. Marsh are the highlights of these as well as many others on the album. More simpler and straight ahead rock can be found with the Hendrix style wah guitar on Dark Star, the boogie hard rock riffs of Land Of The Living (Wonderland) and the bouncy little rocker entitled Miss Little Insane.

Although the hard rock edge is very prominent throughout much of this album, there's also a heavy soul, blues, funk and rhythm and blues presence as well. Glenn pretty much covers all the bases of his career on this album and does it with such a fresh sound that it really doesn't sound dated. Using a very basic production, many of the basic backing tracks for the songs were recorded live with guitar and vocal overdubs added later into the mix. Every track has a killer clear sound and Glenn's voice just oozes with emotion with every phrase that he sings. His strong voice with a slight raspiness and amazing vibrato gives him not only one of the more unique and recognizable voices in rock but also one of the best as well. Some of his solo works through the 90's may have missed the mark a little as far as quality but Soul Mover absolutely nails it!! This is pure Glenn Hughes; pouring his heart and soul into every track. As far as his bass playing, he lays down some slick and funky bass lines throughout the album and although are not overpowering in the mix, provide the solid backbone for the album. In comparison with Glenn's past solo work, I'd say that this is his best solo album to date. It's not for everyone but if you love his voice and are familiar with his work, this album is a must. The wide variety of musical styles doesn't weaken the album one bit and in fact, actually makes the album even more enjoyable to listen to. As a bonus, the video for the title track, Soul Mover is included in a special multimedia section. If you don’t have any of Glenn’s solo albums and think you might be interested in checking them out, start with this one, it has it all…..