Band: Boys Club
Album title: Live In California
Label: E.A.R. Music
Distributor: Edel – V2
Release date: 17/04/2009 (Eur; US = Jan. 2009?)
Release: CD

Not to be confused with the Minneapolis (Minnesota) based R&B duo of Gene Hunt and Joe Pasquale which was regarded as “Minnesota’s equivalent of Wham!” and had a big hit (peaking at #8 on the US singles charts) with “I Remember Holding You” in 1989, THIS Boys Club was a collaboration between guitarist Marc Bonilla, vocalist Glenn Hughes, and keyboardist Keith Emerson.

Having had the opportunity to work with the others during 1991 and 1992, Bonilla orchestrated the opportunity for them to collaborate again in 1998, the trio first coming together to compose a couple of new songs, rehearse a couple of covers and some of Bonilla’s own instrumental originals, the trio assembled a full-blown band with the addition of guitarist Mike Wallace, additional keyboarder Ed Roth, bassists Bob Birch and Mich Mahan (obviously playing at different occasions) and drummer Joe Travers…and undertook a rather successful Californian tour (as you can imagine, with a combination of such excellent musicians) during 1998! Recordings made at these memorable events were eventually hi-jacked and already saw bootleg releases, but this is the first time they were made commercially available!

In essence, if you’re a fan of either of the three protagonists, this is an album you should not be living without! Following three instrumentals (the Bonilla original “Afterburner” followed by covers of “long Journey Home” and “Hoedown” – please forgive me for not having been able to track down its original performers, I simply did not have the time to do that), we find Hughes strolling onto the stage to bring an unforgettable version of Procul Harem’s hit song “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”. After this comes another instumental Bonilla track called “White Noise”, before the band falls into the Hughes-Bonilla written “Cover Me”. Following a great rendition of the instrumental “Nutcracker” (a Rock track written originally by a guy called Fowley, inspired by the music of classical composer Peter Tchaikovsky), Hughes is allowed to grace the stage again during the rendition of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s epic track “Tarkus” (and with a length bordering 19 minutes, “epic” is the least one can call it), a cover of “Dreams” (original written by one of the Allman brothers), and “Middle Of A Dream”, something which the trio wrote together to end proceedings!

With a total of almost 68 ½ minutes playing time, the album is a thoroughly ejoyable item for fans of ’70 Progressive and/or (as I’ve dared to state before) either of the project’s protagonists! I’ve found no websites relating to Boys Club, but you might find samples of the songs at any of the usual on-line outlets where you might buy the album (try amazon.com for size, for instance). And seen as I’m a fan of all of the aforementioned, would you be surprised if I told you I’m nominating Live In California into that “Best Albums Of 2009”-list of mine?

98/100

Tony.