Coffin Joe Mr. Big is probably best known for their two greatest hit singles to be with you & wild world. If you lived in the nineties, your ears where definably plaqued to death with these two songs. Now, why the hell dig up Mr. Big after all those years? Well, 'cause there's more than meets the ear. The band got overlooked in the whole Seattle explosion, and they still are to this day. Mr. Big plays a highly 80's influenced hard rock/glam metal with great hooks, and radio friendly choruses. They do a great job balancing their "radio friendly" sound with intense guitar solos & shredding - hell even bass solos makes their way into the musical universe of Mr. Big. Bump your head opens with the uptempo hard rocking "Colorado Bulldog", a full blown ass kicker of a song which features really great bass playing by Billy Sheehan. It's easy to understand why, he is considered one of the best hard rock bassists. Next track "Price you gotta pay" is nearly as good, a solid rock song with a good 80's stadium rock feel to it. Third track is the albums first ballad, & while "Promise her the moon" is good craftsmanship, it's really a bit of a let down, if you are into the more intense and rocking parts of Mr. Big. Not a bad track, but I'm just not into radio-ballads, so here I'm biased. Luckily we get treated with another great track "what's it gonna be", that really sounds like a big 80's rock-fest. Fourth track is the infamous "wild world" - again, it's simply not for my ears, but hey it was a descent hit single, so it's probably just me, that doesn't get it. Following "Wild World" is "Mr. Gone", which is an uptown melodic rocker, that is followed by the slightly better track "The Whole World is Gonna Know". After the two solid rockers, it's of course time for another ballade...hmm.... it's ahem....another radio-friendly- kiss-your-girl-and-wave-your-hands-and-lighters-track... guess that says it all. The string of ballads is broken by another catchy rock song "Temperamental" a really solid track on the album. After that it's ballad time again with "Ain't seen love like that" - I'm just gonna skip that track, and jump to the last on the album "Mr. Big", which is another good mid-tempo rock song that slowly builds into a guitar-fest overdrive. Now, all in all Bump you Head is a really solid hard rock album, but unfortunately theres just too many ballads on it. If you are looking for some of the best hard rock out there, and you can live with the ballads, you should really pick up Bump Your Head. If you are lucky you can probably find it in the bargain bin.

Don't get surprised if you are blown backwards by the musicianship - 'cause these guys can really rock!