SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE-Space Between

BMG

After the live adventure ‘At Your Service’ from a few years ago it was an anxious wait for the first official studio effort of Sammy Hagar (vocals/guitar), Vic Johnson (guitar), Michael Anthony (bass/backing vocals) and drummer Jason Bonham. Hagar still sounds as great and powerful as in his early Montrose days back in 1973/1974, getting older just does not seem to have an effect on his vocal cords. And talking about the Montrose period, it seems to me that the intro of ,,Trust Fund Baby’’ and the rest of the song drive on a riff that sounds a lot like ,,I Got The Fire’’. Is the Red Rocker paying respect to his deceased friend Ronnie Montrose this way or is it that I am hearing things? The resemblance is without a shadow of a doubt remarkable. By the way, ,,Trust Fund Baby’’ rocks your socks off as does the bulk of this album that is built on solid performances and (most of the time) solid rock songs. But is ‘Space Between’ as spectacular as Sammy in his Van Halen or Montrose days? I beg to differ that because the CD has also (especially towards he end) a few fillers of which ,,Hey Hey (Without Greed)’’ is utterly disappointing while the ‘clean version’ of ,,Can’t Hang’’ is completely ridiculous as it sounds the same as the version earlier on the album. Which leaves us with about nine solid steady rocking songs that are good but never really outstanding. Sure, all the musicians deliver a good performance but after all the waiting it must be said that for instance Chickenfoot sounds a lot better and more inspired than Sammy Hagar & The Circle. Not a bad effort but from guys with these reputations and calibre I had expected more.