Review: Great White – Full Circle

Bluez Tone Records June 2017

Reviewer: Dan Mann

Great White are back with a brand new album, ‘Full Circle‘, the second with Terry Ilous on vocal duties, Terry having first sung on ‘Elation‘.

I’m going to nail my sail to the masthead from the off and say I’m not one of those folks who constantly bang on about it not being GW without Jack!  I’m a GW and a Terry Ilous fan and really enjoyed ‘Elation‘, and was intrigued to see if they’d continue in the same vein.

It’s a welcome return to super producer Michael Wagner  to the recording helm. Having been involved with Great White‘s albums at the beginning of their assault on the hard rock world it’s great to see him involved once again.

Kicking off with ‘I’m Alright‘ the band launches into an uptempo foot tapper of a track and straight away Michael Wagner‘s production skills come to the fore. The track sounds fantastic, tight yet spacial, not overblown with everything pushed up to the limit.

The pace doesn’t slow for ‘Movin’ On‘ with a perfect placement of instruments, all complimenting each other, none overpowering, only when Mark Kendall hit’s the guitar break does his volume knob get tweaked up the necessary amount.

‘This Is The Life‘ is very much a GW track of yore, with it’s blues rock guitar swagger that ramps up to that MK soloing we as fans love.

It’s a Great White album, it must have a ballad? Yes it certainly does in the shape and form of ‘Let Me In‘. And it delivers exactly what you want.

‘Moonshine‘ is a stripper’s anthem, a swaying, sashaying party delight, hell even my knackered old hips are starting to move!

I absolutely love the intro to ‘Cry Of A Nation‘. the harmonies reinforced with a tight bass line and snare from messers Snyder and Desbrow. The song is nothing clever, no huge guitar solos or screaming vocals. But it’s five and a half minutes of ‘stick on repeat’ total enjoyment.

With a Hendrix like opening few bars, ‘Give It Up‘ once again gets the old feet tapping, with that trademark guitar sound and a great chorus too boot. Love it!

Even if you only heard the opening few seconds of ‘Big Time‘ you’d have no doubt in your mind that it was Great White. This is a jump back to those heady days of the early 90’s, a time machine taking those of us old enough to have lived the scene back then, on a journey of memories.

‘Never Let You Down‘ once again highlights those underlying blues roots that help galvanize the band’s trademark sound.

Which brings us to the last track on the album. ‘I’ve got Your Back‘ is a straight cut rock track to round things off, bringing a slightly different sound to the guitar and amply showing off Terry’s vocal abilities.

For me this album is an absolute treat, in some ways harking back to the band’s past much more than ‘Elation‘ and that’s got to be in part down to Michael Wagner‘s involvement.

This is without doubt an album Great White fans need to grab and enjoy to the max!