JOE BOUCHARD – New Solid Black

For some reason Joe Bouchard’s latest solo album fell through the cracks of my review schedule, well, slipped under my printer more like and was rediscovered when doing a spot of dusting. It’s been a while since I had last played the album so this almost felt like a brand new release and certainly deserves a review. Better late than never as they say.

As bassist and vocalist in legendary New Yorker’s Blue Oyster Cult Bouchard performed on some of the greatest songs in Rock history and wrote some of BOC’s finest moments, Nosferatu, Morning Final, Vengeance (The Pact) and the timeless Hot Rails To Hull. Solid gold classics, very one of them.

While his former band mates may be rather quiet on the recording front, Bouchard has been anything but with releases from Blue Coupe, the project formed with brother and former BOC drummer Albert and old mate Dennis Dunaway from the original Alice Cooper band, The X Brothers as well as a couple of solo albums along the way, giving a whopping 8 albums or so since we last had any new material from BOC.

As a member of BOC, Bouchard’s talents were somewhat hidden behind that big thumping bass but free from the shackles of a band set up Bouchard has proven himself to be a hugely talented multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter in his own right.   New Solid Black is testimony to this as all instruments and vocals are his work and his alone.

Working with long time co-write John Elwood Cook, Bouchard has produced another fine collection of deep and varied material displaying a wide range of influences from the up-tempo Forget About Love with an almost ’60’s feel to it complete while Drive Me Crazy would fit comfortably with the more poppy, melodic side of the BOC repertoire. Memorial Day and Last Call see Bouchard at his most reflective, before Roller Girls brings the album to an ebullient end with a rollicking instrumental showing off some impressive chops. Think Buck’s Boogie or Satch Boogie, then this could well be Bouchard’s Boogie.

A couple of bonus tracks in the form of a reworked take on BOC’s Light Years of Love and a driving rocker O Jim, both co-written with the sadly missed and supremely talented writer Helen Wheels are certainly welcome additions to the album and close the album in fine style.

Joe Bouchard continues his impressive vein of creativity and New Solid Black is certainly one that is more than worth checking out.