Contraband - Contraband (1991)

“Supergroup noun (so̵̅o̅′pər gro̵̅o̅p′): a rock-music group made up of members of other well-known groups and/or a highly successful rock group”. Well, Contraband certainly satisfied the former but definitely not the latter being hardly a name the trips of the tongue of the majority of rock officiandos! An unlikely coming together of glam, hair and trad metal, Contraband comprised of Michael Shenker, Bobby Blotzer (Ratt), Tracii Guns (LA Guns), Richard Black (Shark Island) and Share Pedersen (Vixen) and this 1991 album was to be both their debut and swansong!

The album opens with a cover of Mott the Hoople’s 1973 single All The Way From Memphis, which was also a single release from this album, and is a solid rocker of an opener featuring some wah-wah soloing from Guns along with a strong solo from Shenker. Despite my initial misgivings about the compatibility of the players here, Memphis is certainly a strong opener for the album.

Kiss By Kiss follows-on from Memphis and again is a powerful riff-driven slow burner with a catchy chorus hook and, I would have thought, had significant commercial potential – there’s constant wailing guitar flourishes throughout to boot! The theme continues with Intimate Outrage with, I suspect, a Shenker-penned opening riff with, interestingly, the members of the band combining to produce a sound unlike any of their previous bands but rather creating a polished, powerful sound with a commercial edge that works extremely well.

Bad For Each Other slips into the ‘we must do a ballad’ territory which never wins brownie points with me and is overly formulaic in that respect. However, we are soon back on track with the appallingly named Loud Guitars, Fast Cars And Wild, Wild Livin’ which, to be fair, does what it says on the tin – provides plenty of loud guitars . . . not sure about the rest though, but it is a good, solid track best played loud and leans more towards the Ratt/Guns style of chorus and hook.

Good Rockin’ Tonight is a good up-tempo number – albeit lyrically childlike – with a striding rock and roll feel and some more wailing guitar breaks. Then the mood is dropped for If This Is Love, another ballad with a good harmony guitar intro and a certain amount of power is kept throughout so, fortunately, it doesn’t qutie descend into the formula mush of Bad For Each Other.

Stand features an acapella intro (well, with bass drum and hi-hat accompaniment from Blotzer), there’s even the odd flourish of a heavily midi’d Yes 90125-era keyboard and a strong solo from Shenker later in the track which is all good as far as I’m concerned.

Unfortunately, Tonight You’re Mine takes us back into ballad territory – of the more mushy kind but fortunately the album is then saved by a rocked-up Bowie cover with Hang On To Yourself which provides a storming finale. Unfortunately Guns provides the majority of the soloing as opposed to Shenker but that’s nit-picking really as it’s a cracking cover!

This album does leave you pondering the question: how did they not make the big time? Contraband had a really strong line-up (and Bobby Blotzer!) of members from really big-name acts and the music they produced was great – there’s no real filler, every track (even the ballads) are well-crafted so what went wrong is a moot point. The album itself seems very hard to obtain now too but I would recommend its purchase should you be able to find a copy . . . and it’s got Share Pedersen on it which is always a plus as far as I’m concerned: a forgotten gem of an album.

• Richard Black – Vocals
• Share Pedersen – Bass
• Michael Schenker – Guitar
• Tracii Guns – Guitar
• Bobby Blotzer – Drums