Bad Company with Brian Howe – A Re-Appraisal

Bad Company – The Brian Howe Years
Like it never happened…but it did, and it was very successful.
There is no doubt that Paul Rodgers IS the vocalist for Bad Company, but I think it very unfair that this period of the band’s history is never mentioned or dismissed out of turn.

Paul Rodgers is one of my favourite vocalists, he is in many ways a bit of a hero. The way he phrases words and never sings the same song twice makes him a legend to me. I cannot think of many vocalists who can express human emotion as he does.

For many fans Brian Howe was the guy that replaced Paul Rodgers and in the UK this was the case as the band was still seen as a 1970s based band and not so relevant to the AOR melodic rock filling the airways back then. In The USA this was very different with albums like ‘Dangerous Age’ and ‘Holy Water’ selling millions of copies on sold-out stadium tours The fact they were reborn and performing just as well as any AOR Rock band at the time.

Dangerous Age and Holy Water were platinum albums that generated number 1 singles in the USA. The first album was perhaps a bit too pop-oriented, but Dangerous Age was an AOR Hard Rock masterpiece and featured some great songs and superb playing from Mick Ralphs. Holy Water and Here Comes Trouble had more polish, but again, the songs and the vocals from Brian Howe were top notch.

When this version of Bad Company came to an end and Paul Rodgers re-formed the original band he did not want to even admit the Brian Howe version had even existed or recognise their huge success. 

Brian Howe was a fabulous vocalist and I will agree that the classic 1970s numbers belonged to Rodgers but the 1980s and 1990s albums fronted by Howe are just as relevant.

I have had feedback via the Now Spinning website and our private Facebook Group that fans would like to see a box set pulling these albums together. I am sure Rock Candy or Cherry Red Records would do a wonderful job on these.

Phil Aston | Now Spinning

Here is a taste from Holy Water

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