Moscow moshers Pushking seeks global success
Pushking, “The World As We Love It” (Eagle Rock)
For 15 long years, Pushking has toiled away in the musical gulag, churning out albums for the masses in Russia. Now, they're making a bold bid to emigrate to worldwide stardom, backed by a veritable Nobel Committee of classic rock heroes from the 1970s and '80s, who have helped the quintet re-record some of their better songs.
Think “Baryshnikov meets Bon Jovi.”
Pushking is singer/songwriter Konstantin “Koha” Shustarev, guitarist Dmitry Losev, bassist Roman Nevelev, keyboardist Oleg Bondaletov and drummer Andrey Kruglov.
Each of the 19 tracks on “The World As We Love It” features at least one hard-rock icon, and often several more than that. From Alice Cooper to Kiss' Paul Stanley, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, guitar legends Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt and Steve Stevens, Pushking has assembled their very own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, all in a bid to introduce the Moscow moshers to the rest of the world. The album even has not one but two former Rainbow vocalists in Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner.
Gibbons kicks things off with “Nightrider,” an up-tempo rocker in which piano plays as central a role as does his chain-saw Texas guitar and growling vocals. “Troubled Love” has everything you'd expect from the title, particularly when sung by Alice Cooper, who brings along his former guitarist Keri Kelli for added help.
Stanley's take on “Cut the Wire” could have come from a mid-'80s Kiss album, ably assisted by former Bowie guitarist Stevie Salas.
But some of the best moments come from recently resurgent singer Glenn Hughes, who's had his ups and downs through the years in bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and currently, Black Country Communion. His soulful yowling blends well with the backing band's Soviet sensibilities on “Why Don't You?,” “Tonight” and “Private Own.”
Other notable contributors include singer Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen), John Lawton (Uriah Heep), Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and Dan McCafferty (Nazareth).
Check this out: Udo Dirkschneider, Accept's scary original singer, scores big on “Nature's Child,” perhaps the hardest rocking tune on the disc. It sounds like a demented sendup of Sweet's “Ballroom Blitz,” complete with his trademark tortured vocals. Plus, he's German, lending some Euro-balance to this American-British-dominated disc.