Richie Kotzen

[Spruce Goose]

My biggest musical discovery of the last 5 years.
The guy is phenomenal!
I picked up 2 of his albums earlier this year and fell in love with them instantly.
I now have 12 or 13 of his albums and have yet to hear a bad song.

His voice is a mix of Chris Cornell and Glenn Hughes which you can hear in this song YOU CANT SAVE ME from the album INTO THE BLACK:


A fantastic songwriter. Here is the catchy CHANGE from the album CHANGE:


He has a shitload of soul in his style, voice and playing as you can hear in this song HIGH from LIVE AT SAO PAULO


He can do funk very well. Here is SOCIALITE from the album MOTHERHEADS FAMILY REUNION:


And lastly, here is a cover of the classic Motown song REACH OUT (Ill BE THERE):


So, if you are looking for an album to grab:

INTO THE BLACK for a modern sounding, Chris Cornell kinda vibe.

MOTHERHEADS FAMILY REUNION for some funky, bluesy material with tons of soul

CHANGE for some kick ass songwriting kinda pop/rock/blues

AI SEHSHI for a little more commercial sounding pop with great hooks


I really can't recommend this guy enough.
He has moved into my top 5 musicians on the planet.

 

[Spruce Goose]

One more...
Here is the title track of MOTHERHEADS FAMILY REUNION. Very Glenn Hughsey... what an album!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxt--B8LMUg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxt--B8LMUg[/ame]

 

[Shadow298]

better than I expected (but I never expect much these days).

I'd say he was far more Glenn Hughes than Chris Cornell, especially with his blues stuff. But surprised that Ritchie hasn't been raped by record companies trying to find that post-grunge/new blues sound.
So good thing he's gone a little under the radar.

thanks for posting the stuff up, Goosey.

 

[Spruce Goose]

He is very much like Cornell in that one album, INTO THE BLACK.
But yeah, his style is probably a bit more like Glenn Hughes for the most part.
Hughes is one of my favourite singers of all time, but I must say that I find Kotzen a little easier to listen to.
He has a bit more versatility.

When you say 'better than I was expecting', what were you actually expecting?
Do you mean that you had heard his name before but passed him off as an 80's glam rocker or something like that?

 

[Spruce Goose]

Ok, further to the Cornell similarities thing...
Here is another song from the INTO THE BLACK album.. performed live in studio:
THE SHADOW


Motherfucker can sing!

 

[Spruce Goose]

And another... same album... very Cornellish.. especially the chorus



Sorry guys....
I'll stop there.

 

[Spiff]

Pretty sure I only ever heard "Native Tongue" of the stuff he did. Maybe a few tracks from some tribute albums as well.

Listening to the first song here - not bad, not bad at all.

 

[Spruce Goose]

Oh Spiff, you would absolutely love this dude.
Please check out the Motherheads Family Reunion album.

I haven't yet heard his Poison album.
Can't really bring myself around to it it just yet... I'm enjoying him too much. ha!
I have got one of the albums he did with Mr. Big though and it's pretty cool. Different to the Paul Gilbert stuff.
Imagine being Eric Martin as the lead singer of Mr. Big and having a guy on guitar who can sing like that... wow.

 

[Spiff]

I listened to one of the Motherheads songs and really liked it. Didn't really get a Hughes vibe, more of a Coverdale one if anything.

Here's a Poison song with Mr Kotzen:

 

[Spruce Goose]

Yeah - the title track of Motherheads is actually very bluesy Coverdale-esque.
There are a few songs where he does sound like DC.
Weird, I guess he is a mix of DC and Hughes.
Would love to hear him sing Burn or Stormbringer or Holy Man or Comin' Home or This Time Around etc.

Had a listen to that Poison song. Not as embarrassing as I was imagining.
Brett Michaels unfortunately just oozes cheese to me though.

 

[Spiff]

It's a really strong album, it just lacks the catchiness of their stuff with CC.

 

[Spiff]

Listened to a best of album today and loved it.

Found out this afternoon that he's touring with Extreme this year. Interesting!

 

[Spruce Goose]

HOLY SHIZEN!
Where did you hear that Spiff?
I looked around and found this:

http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/tournews/226898/extreme-2013-australian-tour-announced.htm

I never ever thought Extreme would tour here again.
This is amazing... Seriously, these 2 are the biggest musical discoveries I have made in recent times.
I made this thread about Extreme in March 2011: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/maiden-downunder/671339-extreme-iii-sides-every-story.html

Nuno and Kotzen on the same night.... Don't know if me or the wife are more excited!
Hopefully this is true.

Glad you dug the best of album Spiff.
He's pretty damn good hey?

 

[Spruce Goose]

Ok, it's happening.
I just emailed Lennards Promotions and they emailed straight back asking where I heard about it and that all would be revealed tomorrow at 9am and to stay tuned.

Will be doing Sydney and Melbourne atleast.

 

[Spiff]

Yep, that's where I saw it too. Someone told me that Kotzen was touring next year so I had a poke around. Never was a big Extreme fan, didn't really give them a chance, but I'm going to have a listen over the next couple of days and if I like them then I'll most likely go.

The first half of 2013 is ridiculously busy for gigs in Australia - Soundwave, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Motley Crue, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, now Extreme. Of those I'm so far only going to Soundwave and Sabbath. I have to be selective when it comes to gigs because I'm already seeing Rush twice in Europe, going to Download and probably seeing KISS twice in Europe as well. Oh yeah, and Nightwish in January - still haven't decided about them yet.

 

[Spruce Goose]

Yeah cool.
Definitely try III Sides To Every Story.
Great album from start to finish and should be enough to make you wanna go see them live.
Their most recent album Saudades De Rock is also really great with some catchy songs that hook you immediately.
I have their live DVD from a couple of years ago (Take Us Alive) and they are very tight on stage.

 

[Spruce Goose]

I hadn't heard about Thin Lizzy.
Who is fronting them these days?
(you dont actually have to answer that, I'll look it up )

 

[Spiff]

Ricky Warwick is with Thin Lizzy now. They have a live album with the current (I think) lineup and sound great.

 

[Spruce Goose]

Hmm... No Phil though is he...
Oh, I didn't know they were on the Kiss and Motley bill.
Definitely won't be able to afford it now.

I am planning to do Extreme / Kotzen in Sydney and Melbourne already.

I am sitting out Sabbath and Purple.
Seen Purple a hundred times (though Journey would be cool to see).
And was running low on funds when the Sabbath tix went on sale.
I am kicking myself that I didn't go and see Heaven and Hell with RJD when they toured here and to be honest,
I like that version of Sabbath better than the 2012 Ozzy version so that is how I justified it not buying tix.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Anyone who doesn't see Sabbath on this tour is mad IMO. Ozzy is performing better than he had done in the last 15 odd years (probably since the Ozzmosis tour I would think), and this really may be the last chance for these guys. Seeing them at Download in June was one of my top 5 gigs of all time, and this may top it.