Big Trouble - 20 Years and a Million Beers Ago (2022)

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BIG TROUBLE – The Very Best Of; 20 Years And A Million Beers Ago [Retrospect Records]

Various Sources - PUBLISHED JANUARY 23, 2023

 

 

Put together by Retrospect Records, “20 Years And A Million Beers Ago” compiles “The Very Best Of” BIG TROUBLE”, the Atlanta, GA, hard rock band that made some noise between 1990 and 1992.

Besides opening for such acts as Extreme, Skid Row, Bulletboys, Jackyl and many more, Big Trouble was selling out shows around the city and Southeast all by themselves.

Big Trouble built a large following and looked to be on their way to the heights of the Rock world. Then a little song called Smells Like Teen Spirit took over the radio and hair metal was soon relegated to retrospectives by a new generation of rock fans.

Two decades on, all four members of Big Trouble are making music in various capacities, but thought it would be neat to dust off the old masters and see what they had.

The result is “20 Years And A Million Beers Ago”, a collection of studio and previously unreleased live tracks from the band’s heyday, and one newly recorded track that looks back on it all with a decidedly different sound.

This is pure early ’90s party-hard rock akin Trixter, Warrant, Damn Yankees… fun stuff.

After a short intro, the CD opens with “No Stopping Now” featuring a big guitar sound and full frontal vocals characteristic of ’80s hair metal / American melodic hard rock. The band rocks out in grand fashion with catchy choruses.

One of my favorites is “Way Out”, sounding like a wayward cross of Poison and Van Halen. Released four years earlier on a major label, this song would have been a huge hit for the band.

Big Trouble revives such fan favorites as “You Might Get Lucky”, “Now You See Me”, “Hot Shot” and “Seeing Is Believing” along the way.
Additionally the band shows its chops on power ballads with “Accidental Angel”, while “Lost In Your Love” takes another crack at the style in midtempo mode.

The disc closes with a new track, “Popcorn, Whiskey, And Beer”, some kind of a sonic departure, more of an acoustic organic rock number that reflects musical growth and change in the individual members over the last two decades. It’s an ode to glory days and the sustenance of the time.

Big Trouble includes, as a bonus, three live songs recorded at Avondale Town Cinema / August 1991. “Candyland” is a pleasant surprise, sounding radio ready for the day and perhaps even now. The band’s cover of Van Halen’s “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” is middle of the road, but buoyed by a wealth of enthusiasm.
A quite good band that deserved better luck, but never it’s too late…

01 – Circus
02 – No Stopping Now
03 – You Might Get Lucky
04 – Falling out of Loving
05 – Take Me
06 – Now You See Me
07 – Way Out
08 – Upside Down
09 – Accidental Angel
10 – Hot Shot
11 – Lost in Your Love
12 – Seeing Is Believing
13 – Popcorn, Whiskey, And Beer [new track]
EXTRA TRACKS (Live 1991):
14 – Intro by Brian Greathouse of 96Rock WKLS Atlanta
15 – Candyland
16 – Life Rolls By
17 – Somebody Get Me a Doctor

James Schmitt – Vocals
Mike Wilkes – Guitars
Dan Call – Bass
Chuck Strawhand – Drums

 

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www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Big-Trouble/dp/B0050ALWFW