GRAHAM BONNET BAND – Lost in Hollywood Again

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/grahambonnetofficial/

The legendary Graham Bonnet (whose highly productive career in music has lasted for more years than he probably cares to remember himself) is set to release this cool-looking live album just in time for Christmas, and it is a robust-sounding affair all around. Bonnet is arguably best known for his work with Rainbow, but a huge chunk of the stuff he did with Michael Schenker and Alcatrazz is up there too and deserves much praise. And on a more personal note, this scribe considers his 1981 solo offering titled Line-Up a real gem that is frustratingly overlooked. While a live record by the Graham Bonnet Band is hardly essential as such, nor what one might consider a mandatory purchase, there is great joy to be found in listening to the veteran singer performing some of the best and most noteworthy tracks from his checkered past, which is basically what Lost in Hollywood Again serves up. It goes without saying that the 77-year-old frontman sounds different here than he did when with Blackmore and co. in 1979-1980 or when he played scorching shows with a lean and hungry Yngwie Malmsteen under the Alcatrazz banner in 1984, yet that booming, powerful, and charismatic voice is still there and retains its inimitable charm.

In terms of sonic qualities, the content presented here is pretty rough around the edges, which adds a delightful club-like atmosphere to the disc, and a little more punch and low end would have done wonders for it, but it undoubtedly captures a certain rawness that is quite appealing. The keyboard and drum solos are borderline pointless and kill the momentum stone dead, but one cannot argue with the thrill of hearing such well-crafted classics as “Desert Song,” “Eyes of the World,” “S.O.S.,” and “Night Games” in all their catchy glory. There is an authority and a conviction that can only come with age to the way he handles these tunes nowadays, which simply works for me on so many levels. The group’s instrumental take on Deep Purple’s “Lazy” is fun too.

Lost in Hollywood Again is an entertaining output that is undoubtedly more memorable and enthusiastic than the lackluster “Live . . . Here Comes the Night” offering that saw the light of day back in 2016. This new one succeeds in transporting the listener to the front row of the actual gig at the infamous Whisky a Go Go in old L.A.