Glenn Hughes
“Building the Machine”
(SPV)
This white boy is blacker than most black music of today. Soul is clearly at the center of Glenn’s musical influences. It operates as an anchored and gravitational center for everything else to adhere to and orbit around. Glenn Hughes has a long history in rock and roll having joined Deep Purple as their bassist/vocalist in 1973 and releasing numerous solo projects. This album, “Building the Machine,” has all the machinations and ear-markings of 1970’s big funkified, unabashedly soulful, and rocking arena bands. Glenn punctuates his vocals with James Brown, “Yows,” “Oogs” and plenty of enthusiastic screams. Hughes covers the Carpe Diem tune “I Just Want to Celebrate” as well as “Highball Shooter,” a song by his former band mates in Deep Purple. If you miss the feel good soul/funk of the past then I couldn’t recommend Glenn Hughes higher than any other album from the present or even from that time period when funky soul was king. “Building the Machine” captures the spirit perfectly and shows no hesitation in its funky convictions.
