Rob Tognoni Band - Live At The Twilight (1999) [CD Rip]

The Rob Tognoni Band is a high energy band based in Australia. While the band bills itself as a blues-rock band, the flavor is more of a classic rock style with a tinge of blues. The band's leader cites Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, and fellow countrymen AC/DC as some of his main influences. Of these, I hear the AC/DC influence the strongest. Occasionally thoughout the CD, I hear strong blues-rock style lead riffs, as well as song rhythms that remind me of AC/DC, a band I always felt was mis-categorized as a heavy metal band.
Tognoni's guitar is powerful, crisp and animated. Some really nice Wah-Wah is featured ocasionally. I've always been partial to the wah-wah effect, and enjoy Tognoni's use of this device. Although there aren't any extraordinary qualities to Tognoni's vocals, he does sing quite well and his vocal style suites his music. An artist with songwriting talent as well, Tognoni wrote twelve of the sixteen songs on the CD.
There is only one full blown blues tune on the CD, Crossword Blues, which was written by yet another strong Australian blues guitarist, Dave Hole. This is a powerful, straight-up hard blues song and shows without a doubt that Tognoni has blues in his soul. There are three or four others tunes that fall into the blues-rock category. My favorites from the CD, along with Crossword Blues, are I Like To Dress Like Batman and The Sinner. Both are blues-rock songs and feature wah-wah driven guitar.
The balance of the CD has a distinct "Classic Rock" feel to it, but throughout the CD Tognoni's guitar leads keep the blues in mind. Definitely not for the blues purist, this CD is more suited to those who relate to the connection between blues and early rock, and enjoy a good dose of quality guitar playing.