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Pushking: The World As We Love It

In hopes of breaking into the US market, popular Russian rock band Pushking have enlisted quite a group of All-Stars for their latest release The World As We Love It. Featuring 19 tracks and a virtual 'who's who' of the hard rock and heavy metal world, The World As We Love It is sure to get some folks over on this side of the pond talking.

If you're not very familiar with Pushking, fret not, as I'm sure most outside of Russia more likely than not have never heard this band before. That might change though, as The World As We Love It is a pretty solid hard rock affair, given even more appeal thanks to the wide list of guest stars. Konstantin "KOHA" Shustarev (vocal, guitars), Andrey "DRUNIA" Kruglov (drums), Oleg "IVANICH" Bondaletov (keyboards), Dmitriy "MITYA" Losev (guitars), and Roman "ROMA" Nevelev (bass), are joined by legendary ZZ Top guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons on the rockin' Nightrider", and he also returns alongside hotshot Extreme guitar stud on the frenzied "It'll Be OK". A trip down 80's hair metal can be heard on "Troubled Love", featuring Alice Cooper on lead vocals, and former Uriah Heep/Luceifer's Friend belter John Lawton lends his powerful pipes to the melodic rock gem "Stranger's Song, a tone that also sees Steve Stevens deliver some explosive guitar licks. Other strong pieces on the CD include the down & dirty funk metal track "Cut the Wire" with Paul Stanley of KISS and guitarist Stevie Salas, guitar virtuoso Steve Vai on the atmospheric "My Reflections After Seeing the Schindler's List Movie", ex-Rainbow/MSG/Alcatrazz vocalist Graham Bonnet delivering some passionate lines on the rootsy "God Made Us Free", and well-travelled singer Glenn Hughes on the melodic blues rock cuts "Why Don't You", "Private Own", and "Tonight", the latter also featuring his current Black Country Communion band member Joe Bonamassa on lead guitar.

Also noteworthy are "I Love You" and "My Simple Song", two bluesy ballads featuring the whiskey soaked vocals of Nazareth frontman Dan McCafferty, the crunchy AC/DC styled heavy rocker "Nature's Child", complete with a venemous Udo Dirkschneider, and a trip to 70's hard rock with Joe Lynn Turner on "Head Shooter". However, the best track seems to have be saved for famed vocalist Jorn Lande, as he delivers a truly inspiring performance on the nasty "Heroin", a blistering hard rock piece that invokes images of the 70's greats like Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Humble Pie, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, and Aerosmith. There's even "Kukarracha", a tune that features Turner, Eric Martin, Hughes, Stanley, and Bonnet, as well as Toto's Steve Lukather on guitars, which has a real party atmosphere about it. Too bad they didn't do a few more ensemble numbers like this throughout the album.

Overall, The World As We Love It is a lot of fun, and while it might not be the chartbuster here in North America that Pushking is looking for (too many songs, and perhaps a lack of enough killer tunes), there are some solid numbere that hard rock fans over here should easily pick up on. Also, with all the guest vocalists and musicians, it's kind of hard for Pushking's own identity to rise above what everyone else is doing on the album. Despite that, this one is easy to recommend.


Track Listing
01. Intro – 0.14
02. Nightrider – 3.36
03. It'll be OK – 4.16
04. Trouble Love – 4.12
05. Strangers Song – 4.11
06. Cut The Wire – 4.18
07. My Reflections After Seeing the Schindler's List Movie – 4.17
08. God Made Us Free – 3.49
09. Why Don't You – 4.57
10. I Believe – 3.57
11. Tonight – 5.59
12. Private Own – 4.19
13. Open Letter To God – 4.47
14. Nature's Child – 4.03
15. I Love You – 4.44
16. Headshooter – 3.31
17. Heroin – 4.56
18. My Simple Song – 4.37
19. Kukarracha – 4.16

Added: February 5th 2011
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band MySpace Page
Hits: 2628
Language: english

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Pushking: The World As We Love It
Posted by Dean Pedley, SoT Staff Writer on 2011-02-05 03:28:52
My Score:

Just how many special guests can you fit onto one CD? Russian legends Pushking have set the bar high with the release of their all star album The World As We Love it, nineteen songs of driving hard rock that features a multitude of high profile artists. Formed back in the mid-90's Pushking have a 15 album strong back catalogue and are revered in their homeland but with international acclaim having eluded them until now their management reached out to LA producer Fabrizio Grossi (Alice Cooper, Toto, Glenn Hughes) who was instrumental in gaining the participation of such luminaries as Paul Stanely, Alice Cooper, Billy Gibbons and Glenn Hughes amongst many others.

Now with Black Country Communion's debut album still on regular rotation I skipped straight to track number eleven – "Tonight" – that features Hughes and Joe Bonamassa and was not disappointed as it turns out to be a laid back blues rocker with Hughes in majestic form. Pushking frontman and songwriter Koha Shustarev is not overawed by the presence of "The Voice of Rock" and likewise delivers a smooth vocal that oozes quality. Leaving aside Hughes contributions old school Metallers will delight at the Udo –led "Nature's Child" that harks back to the glory days of Accept and for a complete contrast then check out the melodic beauty of "Open Letter To God" featuring the unmistakable Eric Martin. All really entertaining stuff and that's without even mentioning the guitar contributions of Steve's Vai, Lukather, Stevens and Salas....

This is an album that spans Rock and Metal genres and for curiosity value alone is worth checking out. Whether it will help Pushking reach the masses only time will tell.



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