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MR. BIG
...The Stories We Could Tell
Frontiers Records

Review By Michael Warner

There aren’t very many bands that I can say this about, but MR. BIG is one of those groups whose name has always been synonymous with quality throughout their career. The band has never put together a bad album. And this stellar release is certainly not an exception. It has been a long four years since the release of their reunion album, What If..., and the wait for this was certainly worth it. In fact, if anything, this albums runs circles around their previous outing, and stands as one of their best releases AT ALL.

Some of this could be attributed to Pat Reagan’s production. Everything here is crystal clear in quality. Every instrument can be heard perfectly, and the production is beefy and full sounding, without sounding overly-produced at the same time. There are absolutely no complaints, he is a perfect fit for this band as a producer. I hope on future releases, they enlist him again...

More than anything though, it comes down to the songwriting and the incredible playing. It would be expected that anything with players as incredible as Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan would be nothing short of amazing. (I am biased on this though, because I am a fan of a lot of other things aside from MR. BIG that they have worked on. Even as I type this, I am going back and forth between blasting this album and the first David Lee Roth solo album.) There isn’t anything admittedly new here; you pretty much know what you are going to get with a MR. BIG album when it comes to the sound. But on this release, the band’s formula has been perfected.

From the opener “Gotta Love The Ride” to the very last note of “The Stories We Could Tell”, the album doesn’t let up in quality. There is no filler. There are no mediocre tracks. Although, in my opinion “The Man Who Has Everything” stands out as being the best track on the release, everything is well crafted. I must have spun this release a thousand times, trying to find the best way to put into words how good it is. But there really isn’t way I can say it other than this....

This is EASILY one of the best albums this group has ever done. It is better than the reunion album, and it is certainly miles ahead of anything the band did before the first split in 2002. In fact, I may be able to go as far as saying this is the best thing the groups has done since 1991’s Lean Into It.

I can’t get enough of this. I must have played this a hundred times since I received the music to review it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

4.25 Out Of 5.0

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