Details: Amazon.ca Formed from the ashes of Free, Bad Company was an immediate success in 1974. With guitarist Mick Ralphs's bluesy grind perfectly complementing singer Paul Rodgers's ardent testifying, they combined the blues with stomping rock to create some fine good-time music. And, like so many good-time bands, they couldn't let the party end, re-forming with varying lineups throughout the next two decades. Merchants of Cool, a live album selected from gigs in Denver and Anaheim in 2002, sees them at their strongest in years. With Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke from the original outfit and guitarist David "Bucket" Colwell, now a member of more than 10 years' standing, they're supremely tight, running through a succession of hits like "Can't Get Enough," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Burnin' Sky," "Rock and Roll Fantasy," and Free's immortal "All Right Now." Mostly, the songs are well-honed and urgent, free from indulgent solos, but Rodgers--whose voice has always been Bad Company's main attraction--leaves too many choruses to the crowd. Two new studio tracks--an attack on the music biz called "Joe Fabulous" and the limp "Saving Grace"--recall the band's worst work of the mid-1980s. --Dominic Wills
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