Run With the Pack (1976)

I don’t know many people who like Bad Company as much as I do. Maybe it’s the combination of blues and rock. Maybe it’s the familiar vocals of Paul Rodgers or the almost Southern rock quality of their music. They have four really good albums, including this one, Run With the Pack, their third release.

Album opener “Live for the Music” it features a heavy bass and great percussion. The song is rock n’ roll, pure and simple. Speaking of simple, the soulful ballad “Simple Man” is next. Then the tempo kicks back up with the hard rocker, “Honey Child.” “Love Me Somebody” features some great piano and showcases the softer side of the band, albeit in a slightly too commercial fashion. The funky piano-driven title track closes side one, and was one of the cuts that made them radio-friendly. 

Side two kicks off with one of the best songs they ever did:  “Silver, Blue and Gold.” Melancholy as they ever got, it really captured them at the peak of their career. Next they cover the 1957 Coasters classic, “Youngblood,” and strum up a nice acoustic love song in “Do Right by Your Woman.” It sounds like something straight out Skynyd, given its slow, southern charm. “Sweet Lil’ Sister” has a boogie-Foghat vibe to it and rocks a little harder than most of the other tunes on the record.

Bad Company recorded on Swan Song from 1977 through 1984, a label formed by Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Rodgers left the band in 1982 to work with Page in a band called The Firm and has continued his singing career, replacing Freddie Mercury in the 70s arena rock act Queen. (Dennis Donahue)

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