"The Mutual Admiration Society" by the highly talented Sterling Ball, John Ferraro and Jim Cox is an entirely instrumental affair where the three aforementioned gentlemen have been joined by such renowned guitarists as Steve Lukather (TOTO), John Petrucci (Dream Theater) Steve Vai (Whitesnake), Steve Morse (Deep Purple), and Albert Lee (Eric Clapton, The Everly Brothers). Not a bad line-up, eh?

Unfortunately, this 13-track record is not as exciting or riveting as one could have hoped for. While the idea of an instrumental album rooted in blues, rock, R&B, and a bit Americana sounds pretty wicked, the album fails to capture the imagination and it never turns into an engaging or captivating opus.

 

Obviously, there is no faulting the musicianship whatsoever and it does sound like these guys had fun recording all these different renditions of known and classic songs, but that does not change the fact that getting through 13 tracks of this nature can be a bit of a trying ordeal. The production is solid and the versions of Roy Head`s" Treat Her Right" and Chuch Berry`s immortal classic "Memphis Tennessee" are somewhat entertaining to listen to not to mention that they are cleverly arranged, but frankly speaking, there is very little else of interest to be found on this disc besides those two cuts.

 

If you love and cherish the blues (or blues rock, if you will), then you might consider immersing yourself in this one, but yours truly found this an utterly forgettable and anticlimactic record that never really takes off, which is a shame considering the talent involved in crafting it.

 

http://www.mutualadmirationsocietymusic.com/