Track Listing

1. Can't Get Enough
2. Rock Steady
3. Ready For Love
4. Don't Let Me Down
5. Bad Company
6. Way I Choose
7. Movin' On
8. Seagull

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8116 in Music
• Released on: 1994-09-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
1974's BAD COMPANY laid the groundwork for much of the mainstream hard rock that would dominate FM radio and album sales in the 1970s and '80s. In contrast to the expansive canvases of psychedelic music and the virtuoso excesses of prog rock, Bad Company's debut stripped the blues-rock model down to its essentials, playing muscular, amped-up power chords over driving 4/4 beats. Though the singing of vocalist Paul Rodgers (who had previously been in the blues-based band Free)has a rather flat affect, it is powerful and distinctive, meshing perfectly with the bluesy riffs of guitarist Mick Ralphs.
The tightly structured songs are cut from similar cloth, but the exuberant "Can't Get Enough", the snarling "BadCompany", and moody, spectral "Ready For Love" provide enough variety to keep things interesting. The gentle "Seagull",though uncharacteristically introspective for the band, is one of Rodgers/Ralphs's finest compositions. Subsequent Bad Company albums would rework the same basic themes, but BAD COMPANY, the group's opening salvo, was their defining work. It remains a classic of straightforward, blues-based rock.

Customer Reviews

The first album from Bad Co. is also the best
Bad Company's albums were often rather uneven, but this their 1974 debut album is strong almost all the way through, and the group's best offering, alongside "Straight Shooter".

Many of their best and best-known songs are here ("Can't Get Enough", "Ready For Love", "Bad Company" and the best of the lot, "Movin' On"), and "Bad Company" offers 34½ minutes of classic, stripped-down rock n' roll with a bluesy flavour. It may not be particularly original, but it combines good, solid seventies rock music, good musicianship and a great vocalist in former Free frontman Paul Rodgers.

The only "problem" is that the best songs on this album are all on their excellent compilation "10 From 6", but "Bad Company" is still an excellent record and a fine place to start if you're new to the band.

Bad Company puts out one of the best Seventies debut albums
Bad Company's self-titled 1974 debut release was the first album to come out on the Swan Song label other than Led Zeppelin. Fortunately it proved to be one of the better debut albums of the decade representing good old fashioned back to the basics rock 'n' roll. "Can't Get Enough" with its catchy guitar lick was the big hit off of the album, but my fav track is still the moody title track (i.e., "Bad Company" off of Bad Company's "Bad Company" album). Bad Company was a supergroup, with singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke coming from Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs from Mott the Hoople, and Boz Burrell from King Crimson and having more success than all of those groups put together with this first album. Following the Led Zeppelin model, strong vocalist Rodgers and blues-based guitarist Ralphs provide the heart and soul of the music, giving Bad Company its signature sound. Meanwhile, do you think AC/DC got their idea for the cover of "Back in Black" from this one? Unfortunately it was all downhill for the group from this first effort, with "Straight Shooter" being a step down and "Run with the Pack" continuing the slide. If you pick up their hits collection "10 from 6" (which ignores one of the first six albums anyhow) you will get the four best tracks from this one, which is the only album from Bad Company that really stands alone.

How do you follow "Free"? Answer: "Bad Company".
Formed after the disintegration the seminal rock band, "Free", "Bad Company" pulls together again the phenomenal talents of Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke. This, their first album, is a powerful affirmation of the pre-eminence in the rock world of the totally brilliant vocals of Paul Rodgers and the album blends the moody, hypnotic riffs of the "Free" era with a new, sharp Rock n' Roll feel driven by some very serious percussion and bass.

The album gave rise to some classic tracks, the driving "Can't Get Enough" and the title track "Bad Company" being the obvious examples. The saying goes that if you're immune to the opening bars of "Can't Get Enough" you're immune to life...and sex...and drugs...and rock and roll!

The only way to really appreciate the quality of this album is to listen to it...LOUD! It's a gem and if you like your music to be vintage rock you need look no further than this first, and possibly finest album by Bad Co.