RITCHIE KOTZEN

RITCHIE KOTZEN
MOTHER HEAD'S FAMILY REUNION (1994)
320 KBPS

When "Mother's heads" came out Richie Kotzen changed the course of his career almost completly and demonstrated that he had reached maturity. He was a killer shred guitar virtuoso when he became famous thanxs to Mark Varney's Shrapnel record company dedicated to the guitarists self indulgent recordings. He recorded three albums as a guitar prodigy. Don't get me wrong, I'm just one of those guitar wankers madly in love with scales, arpeggios, super fast things!!! I loved and still love Richie's album as a guitarists heartbreaker, he was and still is of course an unbelievable talent on the six strings. But with this album he completly shocked me because he showed that he was (and still is) an exceptional singer and songwriter too! What a talent! Oh RIchie! This album has an unbeatable sense of freshness even many years after its release date, it is very spontaneous, very well written and played. I could call it seventies blues-rock-soul infectious music with the turbo of Richie's guitar playing in it (guitar playing which is everything but limited and seventies)! Fantastic riffs are everywhere in this album and Richie has a very cool array of seventies guitar tones. To accomodate his songwriting feelings which gravitate around some Motown stuff in a certain way, he changed here instrumentations too, going from the 24 frets-FloydRose-higear superstrat type of things to the old school stratos and teles (changing guitar sounds too) and the choice payed! By the way he is still playing Fender telecasters todays! Guys, this is Richie at his best. If you have loved his later albums, you will love this one which stands as a really satisfying rock-blues-soul infectious record! Best tunes here are "Used", "A woman and a man", "Natural thing", "Where did our love go" but it's very good allaround!... well let's wear our bell bottoms again and bang our heads! Let's go Richie, Kick ass!

1. Socialite
2. Mother Heads Family Reunion
3. Where Did Our Love Go
4. Natural Thing
5. Love Devine
6. Soul to Soul
7. Reach Out (I'll Be There)
8. Testify
9. Used
10. Woman and a Man
11. Livin' Easy
12. Cover Me