Paul Rodgers - Live In Glasgow (2007)

The first question one has to ask upon even gazing at the album sleeve of Paul Rodgers' Live in Glasgow in 2006 is, of course, has he still got it? That's like asking if Bob Dylan still has it, or Jimmy Page or Brian May or Ian Hunter. Hell yes he does! Recorded on the final night of a European tour, Rodgers and his bandmates, guitarists Howard Leese and Kurtis Dengler, bassist Lynn Sorensen and drummer Ryan Hoyle, lay down a tough, big sounding set of classics and more recent songs -- including one new one -- from his entire career and give them life, breath and fire again. We haven't heard live guitars sound like this in a long time, probably since the early '80s, nor have we heard blues-based hard rock in this way since the Cult's Electric album. Impeccably recorded -- both audio discs and DVD -- Rodgers and crew rip through "The Stealer," "Bad Company," "All Right Now," Muddy Waters' "Louisiana Blues," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Can't Get Enough," "The Hunter," and "Warboys (A Prayer for Peace)" with fire, intensity and plenty of feeling. The guitarists are not slouches or merely hired guns, they know the music and more importantly, they know the artist. "Warboys," begins acoustically and turns into a dual guitar freak-out, lending an air of chaos to the proceedings, but not too much. The early songs all sound fresh and hungry, and the band supports Rodgers as if he were the greatest rock singer on earth (and he just might be) and pushes him hard to deliver.