Artist:  Pushking
   Title: The World As We Love It
   Label: earMusic / edel
 

Formed in 1994 Pushking have become legends in the native Russia, not bad for a band who come from a country where rock music had been a covert pleasure listened to in secret, never mind being played live, but somehow the band have released 15 albums, although they've never really been widely heard of amongst the international community. 

That was until the bands management started sending out band promos to record producers worldwide. It was then that Fabrizio Grossi got his copy and was totally hooked and suggested he and the band worked together. Grossi burned a personal CDR of his favourite songs from the band and started playing them to a variety of musician friends.  Such was the impact of those songs that many of them readily agreed to collaborate on any future Pushking album.

But that just the start of it as Grossi toyed around with the idea of re-recording the tracks on his CDR with guest artists and after putting this to the bands management, they gave it a thumbs up, on condition that they would only agree to it proceeding if enough high profile artists were interested in taking part.  I bet at that moment in time they never in their wildest dreams could have guessed the artists that would come forward to take part would read as such a who's who of Rock n Roll.

So with an A-List including the likes of Alice Cooper, Billy Gibbons, Dan McCafferty, Glenn Hughes, Graham Bonnet, Jeff Scott Soto, Jo Bonamassa, Joe Lynne Turner, Nuno Bettencourt, Paul Stanley, Steve Lukather, Stevie Salas and Steve Vai, the world is about to hear the might of one of Russia’s best kept secrets since triple filtered vodka.

There has been many an album that has boasted “there is something for everyone on this album” ... but this is an album that really does deliver just that.  There IS something on here for every discerning fan of good rock music.  Right from the up beat rockers ‘Nightrider’ featuring Billy Gibbons, ‘Cut The Wire’ featuring Paul Stanley, ‘Natures Child’ featuring the mighty Udo Dirkschneider, the classic rock vibe of the likes of ‘Strangers Song’ featuring John Lawton on vocals and Stevie Stevens on guitar, the melodic ballads of ‘I Love You’ featuring Dan McCafferty and ‘Troubled’ Love featuring Alice Cooper on vocals and Keri Kelly on guitars, the bluesy ‘Tonight’ featuring the voice of rock himself Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa on guitar and the excellent ‘Head Shooter’ featuring Joe Lynn Turner and the equally superb ‘Heroin’ with the might of Norway that is Jorn Lande on vocals. 

These are just a few of my favourites off what is a superb album and a great insight into the band Pushking.  This album only just begins to scratch the surface with 19 of the bands songs.  I defy anyone who likes Rock music to fault this album.  You don’t get many truly complete albums and I bet after hearing this album you like me will be checking out one of Russia’s hidden gems a little more intensely.

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. Nightrider
3. It'll Be OK
4. Troubled Love
5. Stranger's Song
6. Cut The Wire
7. My Reflections After Seeing The "Schindler's List" Movie
8. God Made Us Free
9. Why Don't You?
10. I Believe
11. Tonight
12. Private Own
13. Open Letter To God
14. Nature's Child
15. I Love You
16. Head Shooter
17. Heroin
18. My Simple Song  
19. Kukarracha

                  

 

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