At Soundsphere magazine we had a clear image of what we hoped this ‘Best Of…’ album to convey; the great successes and struggles of Buckcherry’s musical talent. To barely scratch the surface of their achievements, the LA based band have sold a massive 3 million records in the US alone, including No.1 US rock hit ‘Lit Up’, and have reached No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Sorry’. It has to be said that this group definitely has the ability to raise a diverse variety of feelings up for the listener.
Therefore we expect Buckcherry’s compilation to convey both positive and negative feelings; reflecting the band’s “bumpy” career. The rock band went on hiatus in July 2002, halting the progress of their third album that was being written at the time. Reasons behind the hiatus appear to be a difference in what direction the members wanted the band to move forward with. Things looked bleak for Buckcherry’s future, but to our both surprise and excitement, they came off hiatus in 2006. Josh Todd (vocals) and Kieth Nelson (guitar) reformed the band, pulling together the other members; Stevie D (lead guitar), Jimmy Ashhurst (bass) and Xavier Muriel (drums) to release their album ‘15’.
For those Soundsphere readers who haven’t given Buckcherry a listen yet (and where have you been?!) this would (obviously) be the album to start with, highlighting their best songs yet. The full tracklist is as follows: ‘Lit Up’; ‘For The Movies’; ‘Ridin’’; ‘Sorry’; ‘Next 2 You’; ‘Everything’; ‘Crazy Bitch’; ‘Rescue Me’; ‘Rose’; ‘All Night Long’; ‘Gluttony’; and ‘Nothing Left But Tears’.
Personal favourites from us at Soundsphere would include the aforementioned ‘Lit Up’, a song that literally screams 80’s rock influences, a feel-good biting-back tune that curses you to trying out your terrible dance moves in your kitchen! But how can we resit such fast-paced pure rock fun? If you haven’t yet got round to listening to this song: think AC/DC influences; classic rock; heavy but with a large dose of melody thrown in…in fact just listen to the song!
Another over-played song by the Soundsphere team would have to be ‘Sorry’ – it is a more melodic, calming song that has more of a depressing lighter-in-the-air tone to it. However any of you that have ever seen a good band play a tune like that live, should know that it’s those kinds of songs that bring the audience and band together as one. The song is easy to relate to and although of a slower beat to what Buckcherry are famous for; it doesn’t lose the rock sound that the band are known for capturing perfectly! All in all, a great collection of solid rock songs that will hold true for decades to come.
