Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid rock, December 11, 2001
This... is rock 'n' roll. Pure and simple. This harkens back to the hard-rocking spirit that Aerosmith had started to get away from towards the end of the 70's. This is not to say it's on par with Aerosmith's albums, but it is a nice effort. Nothing complicated here: just good ol' rock 'n' roll, and lots of it. Brad Whitford certainly pulls out some stops on this record (particularly on Sharpshooter, perhaps the album's best track, highlighted on Aerosmith's Pandora's Box collection), but it's highly Derek St. Holmes-dominated. He penned six of the album's ten songs, and many of them sound like the songs he did with Ted Nugent. But it's all archetypal turn-of-the-decade corporate rock: think Sammy Hagar. But fans will dig it. The songs are generally strong - catchy, often very, with fine hooks and competent playing. A couple of them reiterate to cornball when they attempt social commentary (Hold On, Spanish Boy), but few will care. If you like Brad Whitford, Derek St. Holmes, the bands they desisted from, or hell, just a nice, simple rock album, then you'll like this.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Big 80's Lost Gem!, October 10, 2005
(Note: This review written by someone old enough to remember the time it first came out!) This album is one of those albums that makes people say would have and should have a lot. It should have been bigger than it was and probably would have been had it not been for the unusual circumstances that gave birth to it. Brad Whitford had plans for some solo material as far back as 1978, having mentioned that he and some friends had recorded some demo's in a Guitar Player Magazine interview of the period. But the "Aerosmith Marketing Machine" did not allow time to develop these ideas much. When the band had its famous crash and burn and rotating guitarist roster from fall 1979 to fall 1983, Joe Perry split for three albums worth of frustration venting. Meanwhile Brad tried gamely to stick it out for another album after the endless fight that was "Night in the Ruts." About one third of the way into the "Rock in a Hard Place" sessions, (Read the Aerosmith Bio "Walk This Way" for the back story.) he'd had enough of the endless delays, the monster tours and the money machine behind the old band. Derek St. Holmes had gone through a similar plight with Ted Nugent and had even struck out on his own with the soft selling "Saint Paradise".
Now Derek is a good singer, it's just that the guitar work on "Saint" is a little soft. Brad's vocal efforts have always been limited to a little back up singing, but his guitar work has always been solid. So why not do the obvious and combine solo efforts into one solid album? Why not try to remember why they got into music in the first place? That was the spirit behind the formation of "Whitford/St.Holmes." So they jammed out an album in a few weeks with a minimal budget. You get the feeling the record was done in a hurried and hushed up fashion, almost on the sly. It shows in the production because it is a little rough and some of the guitar solos are buried in the mix. But there were several radio worthy tunes on this record! Stuff that was easily the equal of what was being played at the time. "SharpShooter", for example, is a timeless real rock track that makes me put my right foot down hard when driving. So why the seemingly limited release? Yes, there was a track that did get some airplay for all of about one week in late 1981, I remember hearing "Every Morning" on the radio. The trouble was corporate politics buried the album! Certain people behind the scenes wanted the Aerosmith Money Machine turned back on and the original members back. That meant no big time support for solo projects. Back in 1981 when I went to find this album, I had to go to a MAJOR record store and dig for two hours, as it was buried in the back. Meanwhile the usual canned pop was offered up front in the top 40 racks. All this dirty dealing meant another good album got buried and lost. The usual crap that happens to this day. Brad's solo tour ended after only a few months, Derek went demurely back to Ted Nugent, Brad toured with Joe Perry's solo band for a while before Aerosmith finally reformed for good in 1984. But at least now you can find the CD re-release on collector sites like this one, and if you are into early 80's power pop like Cheap Trick, Boston, older Aerosmith, then you should add this to your collection. It's not for everyone, but it is an interesting record of its time.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Are You A Rocker?, November 14, 2002
Can you say Rock & Roll?!, i first heard "Sharpshooter" on the "Pandora's Box" album and i had to hear more, after Brad left Aerosmith durring the "Rock & A Hard Place" session, he met up with Derek and made this Album. If your a Aerosmith fan this CD is a MUST, the fantastic Guitar work by Mr. Brad Whitford (as heard in such songs like "Nobody's Fault", "Round & Round", and "Rattlesnake Shake") and the classic Bon Scott-like Rock 'N'Roll voice of Derek St. Holmes makes this CD a album for the ages, and u can Put it next to your The Joe Perry Project albums. Thank You and Goodnight.
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is Whitford / St. Holmes' 
