Michael Des Barres first came to prominence 60s as a budding young TV and theatre actor before becoming the frontman with proto-Glam rock troupe Silverhead. From there he formed Detective, before going solo and then fronting first Chequered Past and then The Power Station. From that he then returned to acting for a while, appearing in highly rated US TV shows such as ‘MacGyver’, ‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Roseanne’, having already made in-roads into TV work with roles in various episodes of ‘Miami Vice’, ‘Hart To Hart’, Cagney & Lacey’ and ‘St. Elsewhere’ in the early 80s. This album was originally released by MCA/Gold Mountain Records in 1986, and shows someone who is able to make exactly the album he wanted to, with little or no pressure. Produced and arranged by Bob Rose (Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys), Des Barres was backed-up by an outstanding band including high profiled session drummer Jim Keltner, guitar players Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) and bass player Phil Chen (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart).
Confidence just oozes from the speakers, here is a man happy with his own voice and what he wants to do here, moving from the styles of Huey Lewis to Rod Stewart and then into other realms such as John Waite, all very rooted in the mid Eighties. The horn section plays an important part in the overall sound, but there are also times when the guitars are quite dominant although Michael is at centre stage whatever style he is pursuing. The version of “I Can See Clearly” is interesting, and I can honestly say that I have never heard it performed in an Eighties rock AOR fashion with Motown backing vocals before. Shows that there is always a first time for everything.
Overall this is an incredibly solid album, and I am somewhat surprised to discover that this has not previously been made available on CD. For more details on this and his current projects visit www.desbarres.com
