There's a cure for what ails the world, and that's some Bernie 'Freakin' ' Torme! GMT is the power trio consisting of Torme on guitar & vocals (ex-Gillan, Ozzy, Desperado, Atomic Rooster, Silver), John McCoy on bass (ex-Gillan, Mammoth, Samson, Atomic Rooster), and drummer Robin Guy (ex-Bruce Dickinson, Faith No More). This new live CD is precisely as billed...raw. And in this case, that's a real good thing. The trio is absolutely blistering here, running through some of their best tracks from their two solo albums and a few covers, and it was all recorded on their 2010 UK Club Tour.
Torme's screaming guitar licks are on full display throughout, as his distored tone and mind-numbing whammy bar theatrics on opener "Cannonball" just pummel you senseless. "Bullet in the Brain" and "Wheel of Fortune" continue the assault, as white hot torrents of guitar thunder and McCoy's booming bass drive these hard rock/metal tunes to new heights. Torme's lead vocals were never the highlight of his material, but they fit the bill, as GMT's songs were always more about attitude and good time heavy rock than finesse. After the sleazy blues number "Perfumed Garden", the band rip into the crunchy metal of "Can't Beat Rock n Roll" and the wild "Bitter and Twisted", the latter a track filled with scorching Torme guitar solos. The distored riff-o-rama continues on "Longer Than Tomorrow", a real hard driving and grinding number, and the band finishes up the set with their version of Gillan's "No Easy Way" (a song Bernie also played quite a bit throughout his 80's solo career) and Jimi Hendrix' "Fire". The band do a great job on the Hendrix classic, with Guy bashing the drums and Torme all over the place with screaming solos and whammy bar excursions.
If you like your heavy rock raw, in your face, and with tons of powerful guitar solos, you've come to the right place. GMT's Raw-Live features a trio that is firing on all cylinders, and a guitarist in Bernie Torme who has never gotten the exposure or credit he deserved for being the talented player he really is.
Track Listing
- Meantime (Intro)
- Rawroar
- Cannonball
- Bullet in the Brain
- Wheel of Fortune
- Perfumed Garden
- Can't Beat Rock n Roll
- Bitter and Twisted
- Longer Than Tomorrow
- No Easy Way
- Fire
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
