In their nearly 30 year existence, the Michael Schenker Group has had dozens of lineup changes. Their newest release finds 4 out of the 5 original MSG members on board: vocalist Gary Barden (Silver), guitarist and band founder Michael Schenker (Scorpions, UFO), keyboardist Don Airey (Deep Purple) and drummer Simon Phillips (The Who) are joined by bassist Neil Murray.
In The Midst Of Beauty gets off to a rough start with "City Lights," but the band quickly regains its footing with better songs. As you'd expect with this lineup, it's classic MSG with melodic, bluesy rock songs. Schenker's stellar guitar work is prominent, but he blends in a little more on this album and it seems like more of a group effort.
The production on the album isn't great and sounds a bit muffled. Barden sounds good, and his bluesy voice glides along smoothly using lower tones and he also has the power to belt out the higher notes. In The Midst Of Beauty has some memorable songs, but there's a fair amount of filler as well.
(released May 13, 2008 on Inakustik Records)
