• AllMyVinyl #89
• Band: The Firm
• Album Title: The Firm
• Release Date: 11 Feb 1985
• Date purchased: Unknown
• Location purchased: Unknown
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website (N/A) | Complete album on Youtube ]

This is a band comprised of four guys I primarily know from other bands.  The Firm was Paul Rodgers on vocals, who I knew from Bad Company who had just split up right before this.  Paul also went on years later to record an excellent but underrated studio album with Queen – “Cosmos Rocks”.  Jimmy Page was on guitar, who of course was known from Led Zeppelin who had been done for about 4 years after the death of Bonzo.  On drums was Chris Slade, who I knew from the year prior when he was the drummer for David Gilmour on his About Face Tour (great show, but never mind that now).  Chris of course would go on to bigger heights as the drummer for AC/DC for a few years in the 90’s.  Finally on bass was Tony Franklin who we know well now, but then was a relative unknown, so him being in this group was a bit of “oh man this guy must be good”.  Franklin turned up on one of my favorite unknown/underrated albums – Quiet Riot’s “Rehab”.  He was also on the absolutely smoking hot album “Blue Murder” in 1989.   So yeah, this was a band of great musicians. Supergroups were a thing around this time, and this was one of the biggest with the pedigree of its members.  That doesn’t always guarantee a quality album, but man it was a great start.

When this was released, it was pretty popular. I use the phrase white hot sometimes in talking about albums from the past – that’s not something I’d use here.  Now I’m not claiming this wasn’t popular – it most certainly was.  I remember The Firm being played a TON on rock radio in Philly back then (shout out to WMMR & WYSP in Philly).  It’s just not the album I recall selling a gazillion copies when it was new.  Having said that I obviously picked up the vinyl, as I’m playing it today.  What I don’t remember (again) is buying it originally.  Oh sure I can logically see why I would, because it as popular, and of course – Led Zeppelin guitarist, which would have been my main draw here.  I just don’t remember doing it.  I obviously bought it because the following year they put out another album (which I’ll get to later in the series), and since I have both, I must have really liked ’em!  ha.  This was a vinyl only purchase – which for me in 1985 was an odd choice, as I was already starting to buy CD’s, and I was deep into cassette tapes.  I wonder why I chose vinyl for this album – that’s kind of lost to time.  Heck, I don’t even remember buying it, let alone a reason for the format choice.

As I sit down to listen to the music, I take a look at the track listing.  Other than the obvious cover on the album (Lovin’ Feeling), the only song I know by title is Radioactive, the big single from the album.  So this will mostly be a blank slate.  I own it, so I obviously listened to it a bunch back in the day.  What I don’t remember at the back end of 2024 is what the rest of it sounds like.  I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  Most of this album is shorter songs.  There’s ten in all, and with one exception, they’re all under 5 mins long, with three of them being under four minutes long.  Overall, 40 mins long which is in the neighborhood of what albums were length wise in this era.  Wasn’t for another few years before they started being upwards of an hour long.  Anyway, lets get to the tunes..

Closer – The album leads off with a definitive statement.  It’s got a VERY fat bottom end from Franklin along with a driving beat and a great guitar riff.  Paul Rodgers is as he always was – that sweet voice from BadCo.   I got into this right away.  It’s my favorite – the 3-4 min fast song.  It’s a great opening track.  I don’t have a ton of words about the music despite really liking it.  It’s one of those you get into right away – was well placed as the opening track, I think.  After finishing the entire album, I have to say it’s probably my favorite track on the album.

Make or Break – This one starts off with mostly just vocals from Paul, and shows a little different vocal range, not just the standard Rodgers vocal here.  But it doesn’t stay there.  It’s definitely one of those slow burn songs.  Once the whole band kicks in, it’s a bit slower than Closer, so it’s a different paced track.  However, by the end, it’s a much more hard rockin’ song.  Not full on Zep/metal here, but it ended in such a way that I thought perhaps I missed a song end and went right on into the next track without noticing.  So it ends up quite differently than it starts, which I very much liked.  Great track.

Someone to Love – This has some bass by Tony Franklin mixed way up high – far more than some bass lines usually are.  A particular sound here is something I remember hearing a lot on the Blue Murder album about 5 years after this or so.  This one isn’t as memorable for me. I liked the beat when the song started, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere – it ended as it started, which itself isn’t a problem.  I just felt the song in general wasn’t one of my favs, although I did hear Tony a lot on this track.

Together – This is the slower song on the first side.  Not quite a ballad, but it’s slower yet still retaining the Firm sound we’ve heard prior to this on the album.  Some bands when they go slow/ballad their default sound is missing and something else is there (say Motley and Hone Sweet Home).  This goes slower yet still sounds like their regular sound.  Some parts of the guitar sound remind me of something I’ve heard in Led Zeppelin in the past, but I can’t put my finger on it.  I mean it is Jimmy Page here, so ultimately it’s gonna sound like that to a certain extent.  It’s an OK song, but one I was like “can we get back to the faster stuff please”?

Radioactive – That leads us into Radioactive – the big single for the album.  The music video is just performance based, it’s not conceptual.  It’s a catchy track, but not the kind of ear worm that you can’t get out of your head.  I thought it was an interesting choice to change Paul’s pitch when he’s singing “It’s Radioactive”.  The guitar riff is an OK one by Page, but not his best riff ever.  The hook for me is Paul’s vocals more than Jimmy’s guitar.  Still, it’s a catchy song 40(ish) years later, and I don’t want to say it’s not a good song.  It is, but I think I enjoyed this more in the past than I did in 2024.

You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling – Well, this is the straight up cover – of the old Righteous Brothers song.  It’s a VERY well known track, and given the proximity of the release of this album to the album “The Honeydrippers Vol 1” (also with Page – they were just five months apart), I always wondered if this was something meant for the Honeydrippers album but wasn’t used.  Page then brought it forward here and got it recorded on the first Firm album – although that’s just a pet theory, I have no idea if that’s anywhere near reality or not.  Not much to say.  It’s a fair cover of the song, just not one that lights my world on fire.  I did have to say I love what Paul did with his vocal delivery right at the start of the song.  On the negative side, that “fat bass” sound Tony Franklin is known for doesn’t seem to work here for me. It does on the rest of the album, just not on this one.

Money Can’t Buy – Outside of the guitar solo spot, Jimmy Page is far more restrained here than usual.  The song is also a mid tempo song.  It plods along, which sounds like an insult, but it isn’t.  I just like the steady pace of this one.  Sometimes I find songs like this meh, I don’t think that way about this one.  Enjoyed it.

Satisfaction Guaranteed – As I was listening to this song, I was like “Hang on, this sounds familiar”.  Then they got to chorus, and I was like “Oh yeah – I remember THAT”.  In looking up info on the album, this was the third single off of the album, so probably why it sticks in my head.  Rock radio in 1985/86 would be playing this a bunch.  It’s got a slow driving beat.  Not too slow, not too fast.  A good mid tempo track which I found myself getting into.  Not quite a slow burn, as it’s mostly the same thing all the way through, but I still liked it. In the music video Plant appears to be playing his guitar with a violin bow at points.  And Tony Franklin’s hair is OFF THE CHARTS mid 80’s coiffed. haha. :)

Midnight Moonlight – The big track – and the longest at 9:13 – far longer than the next longest (Someone to Love at 4:54).  This is probably the closest the band comes to being Led Zeppelin here.   It’s got a bit of a Zep vibe to me.  Some of the echo on Paul’s vocals remind me of what the did with Plant.  We’re not talking Kashmir stuff here, it’s more like one of the slower meandering early Zep tracks that has a good slow burn.  There’s three female background singers on the track too, so it’s got a different sound than anything else on the album just from that aspect of it.  It’s a standout track for sure, possibly because of it being so different than anything else on the album.

This album has more slower tempo rockers than I recalled.  My brain had this filed under “Mostly don’t remember, but it was a decent hard rock album”.  That’s not true. It’s decent alright, but wouldn’t call this hard rock.  Jimmy’s old band before this were.  I enjoyed it well enough now on this re-listen, but other than Closer, Radioactive, and one or two others, it’s not one I see myself reaching for a ton of times.  I think part of the problem for me was that I was expecting Kashmir or something along lose lines, so when I didn’t bet get it, I felt disappointment.  But that’s more my own expectations vs a true inditement of the music on the album.

I never saw them live, but my wife did (that was a few years before we met).  Which means she’s seen a Zep (and a BadCo) member live – something I’ve never done.

An odd extra note to throw in.  I rather liked the way the band logo looked when printed on the label on the actual vinyl disc itself.  The Firm logo takes up 100% of the space on Side 2.  As little as I remember about this album, I remember even less about their second album. I wonder what I’ll think of that one when I get there.