Customer Reviews

Mad Hatter

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Mad Hatter" is an excellent Prog Rock recording surpassing the quality of the band's previous release, "The Disregard of Timekeeping". Although it was never a big seller, don't let this discourage you from purchasing it. It's comparable to Led Zeppelin's "Presence" title, but with a less bluesy sound.

The vocals and guitar solos are phenomenal. "Mad Hatter" is Art Rock at its best, produced at a time when no one seemed to have much interest in the genre.

Bonham's Mad Hatter is my new favorite album! I just got it and the first song hooked me!

My first impression was that they sounded a lot like The Answer, who was one of my favorite new bands of 2007. But then this disc came out in '92, so props to Bonham for originality.

Think Zepplin meets Tesla and you have a good idea of what Bonham sounds like.

I gotta go....gotta go listen to some more Bonham...

1992's Mad Hatter was the second album from Bonham, the band formed by Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Naturally, given Jason Bonham's personal history, there is a significant Led Zeppelin influence to Bonham's sound. That influence is further reinforced by Daniel McMaster's (RIP) Robert Plant style vocals.

Bonham's 1989 debut The Disregard of Timekeeping was a melodic rock album on par with Loverboy and Foreigner, but with Mad Hatter the band takes their sound in a different direction. For one thing, the album is not as pop-oriented as its predecessor. The songs are longer, the instrumental elements are more technical (there is a lot of guitar "noodling", but I wouldn't go so far as to call this a prog album), McMaster's vocals are a bit grittier, and the album as a whole just seems a lot heavier. The Zeppelin influence is still there, but Mad Hatter sounds more like a later day Tesla album than anything else.

Mad Hatter is a better overall album than The Disregard of Timekeeping, though it's not quite as much fun to listen to. They're both good albums though, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to any fan of late 80's/early 90's hard rock.

Though Jason Bonham continued to be very active in the music scene, this was the final Bonham release. The grunge and alternative rock scene that exploded in the early 90's made it all but impossible for a band like Bonham to survive.

NOTE: SPV reissued Mad Hatter in 2009. The reissue does not include any bonus material, but it has been digitally remastered.

Bonham have taken their name after Jason Bonham, the son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (R.I.P.). "Mad Hatter" came out back in 1992 and it's obvious that the band is influenced by Led Zeppelin, something the listener realize immediately in the opening "Bing". Some of the songs in this (Zeppelin) vein seems a bit too calculated like "The storm", and I can't escape the feeling that young Bonham and Co feel that they have something to prove. Even `tho singer Daniel Macmaster is no Robert Plant, he's doing a decent job delivering what you could call the next best thing to the original. From time to time, Bonham are very good but in the long run it all gets a bit boring, at least for me who's not the world's biggest fan of Led Zeppelin. So when Bonham gives us a slight change of direction in the title track "Mad hatter" (which bare connection to Aerosmith and their 1970's approach like "Walk this way") it sure feels like a fresh breath.

"Disregard Of Timekeeping" is the album to get by Bonham. Pick "Mad Hatter" up only if you want an out of print album to finish your collection of a band. Bonham is undoubtely Led Zeppelin wannabe's, but at least Disregard was listenable. This gets lost in a prog-rock mess. You can find a review of "Disregard" I did at [...]. As someone who listens to rock ablums weekly for a review blog and loved "Disregard" from the first minute ... "Mad Hatter", no matter how much I tried, wasn't worth reviewing for my blog.

I received this product in great condition! The best song on this CD is
Change of Seasons.

I bought this remastered version to replace my original copy that I have had since it came out. It's a great CD and I have played it many times over. You have to ignore the reviews that bash it because they are trying to compare the music to Led Zeppelin. Of course it sounds like Led Zeppelin. That's where the influence comes from. Is the music as good as Led Zeppelin? Of course not. But it is awesome music from a band that rocked. My big hang up with this new remastered release is the poor packaging, it is about as bland as can be. There are no album credits or liner notes anywhere. Doesn't even list the members of the band anywhere or say who produced it. Looks like I will be keeping my original copy and trading in this new unprofessionally packaged remaster.

Overall I like this CD, my favorites are a "Change of A Season" and "Good With The Bad".