\u00a0\u201cAin’t it a blessin’ \/ To do what you want to do”<\/i>
\u2013 Shawn Mullins, \u201cTwin Rocks, Oregon\u201d<\/p>\n
The above quote came to mind during my first listen to the latest from the irrepressible Sammy Hagar, who, whether or not he\u2019s actually the hardest-working man in showbiz, definitely loves his work, and definitely brings a certain showbiz flair to just about everything he does. This time out the singer-songwriter-guitarist-entrepreneur-author-TV host-lifestyle icon has gathered his band of the moment The Circle for a run at, of all things, a concept album.<\/p>\n
Well, hell, why not? At this point, 70-something CEO Sammy can do pretty much whatever he wants, whenever he wants to. The irony being, the megarich grandad-bro who made his mark 40+ years ago urging my teenaged self to go \u201cCruisin\u2019 & Boozin\u2019\u201d and \u201cTurn Up the Music\u201d has chosen to make a dead-serious 10-song concept album about the futility of greed and the importance of simple things like human connection, laughter, and love.<\/p>\n
Somewhere in America, someone just read the last paragraph and thought: \u201cOK, Boomer.\u201d<\/p>\n
But dammit, it works, for two reasons: Hagar sounds energized by a fresh challenge, and his band is right on the mark from start to finish. Hagar has loved the power-trio-with-vocals format ever since early days with the Led Zeppelin-inspired Montrose, and he couldn\u2019t ask for more enthusiastic and compatible bandmates in this kind of undertaking than Vic Johnson (guitars, the Waboritas), Michael Anthony (bass & backing vocals, Van Halen), and Jason Bonham (drums, Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day<\/i>).<\/p>\n
When Hagar convened the Circle in 2013, its primary purpose seemed to be to give him the flexibility to cover every phase of his career live, spanning Montrose, Van Halen, Chickenfoot, and 20 or so solo albums, with the addition of a handful of Zep classics that he and Bonham both love to play. Studio work was not the focus, and the group\u2019s 2015 debut album At Your Service<\/i><\/a> was a live one covering all of the aforementioned bases.<\/p>\n Among the things Hagar gets right here is to keep the songs tight and focused, rarely breaking the four-minute mark. Muscular, ominous opener \u201cDevil Came to Philly\u201d clocks in at a spare 2:35, with two verses and an extended outro comprising the entire appetizer of a song. Then we cross-fade directly into the heavier-yet \u201cFull Circle Jam (Chump Change),\u201d a chugging boogie with hard-rock flourishes and a sly Beatles reference (\u201cOne for you nineteen for me,\u201d flipping the figures from \u201cTaxman\u201d). <\/p>\n