CD-Review: Pat Travers - "Can Do"

Frontiers Records is about to release the new album by guitarist Pat Travers on July 5th, 2013. One moment ... Pat Travers? Never heared of him before. A look at the promo sheet tells me he is active since 1976 and he released something around 30 releases with his band until now. So this is pretty much and I'm really happy I haven't listened to those 30 albums before - otherwise I may have heared most of the stuff on "Can Do" before, I think.





So completely unbiased I put the promo disc in my player and there is something that comes to my mind after the first two minutes: you definitely hear that this is an album from a guitar player, because the focus is on much really cool guitar parts - they are the real highlights on this album and always present.

So the opener "Can Do" starts pretty good, this is my absolute favorite here. A really catchy track in the vein of older, classic 80's melodic rock tracks.
I think Pat Travers summs up  all the stuff he did before in his carrer. He presents typical groovy 70's old school Rock'n'Roll ("Stand Up", "I'm With You", "Armed & Dangerous", "Wanted", "Dust & Bones"), classic commercial melodic 80's rock ("Can Do", "Diamond Girl", "Long Time Gone") and of course a lot of blues soaked songs ("Keep Calm & Carry On", "Here Comes The Rain", "Waitin' On The End Of Time" ). Most of the tracks have a very bluesy edge ... but this is nothing new, many guitarists add blues notes to their music and playing style. So put all these things together and you know what you get here.
The only period Pat Travers left comepletly behind is the time since 2000, because you won't find something modern on "Can Do" or something new and refreshing. Even the production has no updated sound. It is all very earthy and traditional. You could call it easily a "retro-album". If you listen to it you may think this was recorded in the late 70's/ early 80's. So followers of the "good old days" will be really happy with this record.
In general "Can Do" is a good album to chill out at the evening, most of the songs have very easy structures and so they are really easy to listen to and this makes this album enjoyable for most of the time.

I don't find something that blows my mind here, but it's very solid songwriting. I really enjoyed tracks like the opener, "I'm With You", "Wanted" or "Long Time Gone", but at the same time there are too much songs that are just good enough as background music - especially in the second half of "Can Do".

I said already something about the guitar work: it's great! Pat Travers is a really gifted guitarist, I like his traditional way of guitar play very much. You hear with each note that he do this for a long time now. But Pat makes also a good figure as a vocalist. For sure, he isn't the best singer, but his raspy voice fits perfectly to his bluesy guitar play.

So let's make this short: the bottom line is that you get a solid old-school melodic/blues-rock album with very enjoyable guitar solos, like it was popular in the 70's/80's. There is nothing more to say. Fans, who miss this period so much, will have fun with "Can Do". Other people, who want an updated sound and rock with a modern twist, won't find it here! You can love this retro-style or you don't. That's it!

7/10

Tracklist:

01. Can Do *
02. Stand Up
03. Diamond Girl
04. I'm With You *
05. Long Time Gone *
06. Wanted (That Was Then, This Is Now) *
07. Armed & Dangerous
08. Here Comes The Rain
09. Keep Calm & Carry On
10. Dust & Bones
11. Waitin' On The End Of Time
12. Red Neck Boogie

* best tracks