UAWIL #270: The Firm - Mean Business

After their debut album, The Firm, hit gold in the US in 1985, fans figured that Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers would tour to support it and not only play songs off the album but also include hits from their back catalogs. While expecting reworked Led Zeppelin and Bad Company songs, they instead got songs from Paul Rodgers 1983 solo album Cut Loose and Jimmy's Death Wish II soundtrack. Then, Jimmy's performance with his old LZ bandmates at Live Aid was considered an outright disaster. Everyone figured the 2nd Firm album would be Jimmy finally putting on his old Guitar God robes and delivering what they'd been waiting for.

Unfortunately, Mean Business never really lived up to the fans expectations and though there were a few flashes, the guitar heroics were missing. Despite the extraordinary work of bassist Tony Franklin, whose writing contribution Dreaming is a standout on the album, it was as if Jimmy was just going through the motions. Though Paul's voice is as strong and rich as ever, most of the lyrics weren't very deep or super relatable. The steady hand of UAWIL guest Chris Slade on the drums gave everyone the space to do what they wanted but for Jimmy, it wasn't inspiring. You saw glimpses in the solo on Live in Peace and on a couple of others but if you were waiting for Jimmy to cut loose, well it never really happened.

There are highlights like All The Kings Horses which hit #1 on the US rock charts for 4 weeks in early 1986 and the closer Spirit of Love lets everyone do their thing. Fortune Hunter is rifftastic in getting the album going but there's a slow down around 3:30 that kills the momentum. Cadillac is so long and murky that it's almost unlistenable - why did they choose that as the second song?

Eventually, all involved went on to do other things as members of supergroups always do. It was an incredible lineup but they just couldn't capture the magic that fans were hoping for when they learned about The Firm.

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