PINK CREAM 69 – Headstrong

Pink Cream 69 returns with Headstrong, the twelfth album in their thirty-year long career. They start the show with “We Bow To None”, one of the heavier entries in their oeuvre. It’s a great track, driving and effusive, and an excellent example of bassist Dennis Ward’s excellent production skills. Pink Cream 69’s sound owes a lot to Ward, not only in the control room but in the music itself; his standout playing is evident both on the studio tracks and the live cuts featured on Headstrong’s bonus disc. Vocalist David Readman is sounding as powerful as ever, adding some rough edges to Ward’s smooth production and seeming to take special satisfaction not only in the hardest rocking songs like “We Bow To No One” and the stellar follow up “Walls Come Down”, but also the Blues inflected closer on the studio disc, “The Other Man”.

In straddling the fertile terrain between Hard Rock and Classic Heavy Metal, Headstrong follows the time-tested script Pink Cream 69 and other bands that formed in the late eighties laid down, by throwing in a couple power ballad-ish tunes among the rockers. In addition to the aforementioned “The Other Man”, there’s also “Man Of Sorrow” and “Vagrant Of The Night” to power down a bit. Taken as a whole, Headstrong is a satisfying record from a polished band in full control of their sound and material; the nine razor-sharp cuts from the live disc (two from their last album, 2013’s Ceremonial, and seven from further back in the vaults) further prove their case.

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