Time to fulfill some requests and here comes this pretty hard to find digipak digitally remastered version of “The Disregard Of Timekeeping“, the debut album from BONHAM, the band of Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin’s legendary drummer.
The expectation from the press and fans were immense, and Rock magazines drooled over Jason Bonham’s new band, simply and obviously called Bonham. The singer, a young Canadian named Daniel MacMaster, had the youthful curls and range of a young Robert Plant. The bassist, John Smithson, was a talented multi-instrumentalist just like John Paul Jones. Guitarist Ian Hatton delivers classic riffs yet with updated sound. The band had to be a quartet; there could be no other way.
They tapped expert Bob Ezrin to produce, a man who has never done anything that sounded like Led Zeppelin but someone who know the trends of the moment and was able to take young bands and push them ahead a few levels.
The music world in 1989 was far removed from the days of Zeppelin; big hair, flashy videos, catchy choruses and bombastic production were the norm. Ezrin provided all that to Bonham’s debut.
The resultant album “The Disregard Of Timekeeping” attained a lot of attention with successful singles and making it very good in the album charts, making many magazines’ year end lists. Best new group, best new album, etc.
Going for the bombastic, the CD opens with a two minute instrumental of keyboards, guitars, violins and the odd burst of drums, setting up the way for the first single ‘Wait For You’, a catchy, commercial melodic hard rocker with a glossy sound.
It’s big, echoey and loaded with keyboards and effects. It does recall Zeppelin, particular the remarkable pipes of MacMaster. It has the necessary big chorus that you needed to have in 1989, and the two sides of rock that Bonham inhabited were melded together in fine fashion.
There’s many good tracks on this Bonham’s debut, such as my personal favorite ‘Guilty’ (monster sound), the dynamic ‘Holding on Forever’ which has a Zepp touch but a totally modern ’80s chorus, or the ambitious ‘Room For Us All’, while ‘Dreams’ is a superb ballad.
“The Disregard Of Timekeeping” is one of the late ’80s albums that better stood the test of time. It sounds timeless, classy but at the same time big, glossy, bombast as most the major productions from the era.
This reissue from some years ago from this German label features a really well balanced remastering, avoiding saturation / brickwalled output.
HIGHLY Recommended
01 – The Disregard Of Timekeeping
02 – Wait For You
03 – Bringing Me Down
04 – Guilty
05 – Holding On Forever
06 – Dreams
07 – Don’t Walk Away
08 – Playing To Win
09 – Cross Me And See
10 – Just Another Day
11 – Room For Us All
Daniel MacMaster – lead & backing vocals, keyboards
Ian Hatton – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
John Smithson – bass, keyboards, violin, backing vocals
Jason Bonham – drums, percussion, backing voals
additional personnel:
Trevor Rabin – bass, backing vocals
Duncan Faure – backing vocals
Jimmy Zavala – harmonica on “Bringing Me Down”
Bill Millay – keyboard programming, MIDI
Bob Ezrin – Orchestration, Production