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Billy Sheehan is back with a brand new solo CD.  This time around Billy brought an all star cast with him. Holy Cow features  Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Dug Pinnick (King’s X), and Ray Luzier (David Lee Roth, KORN).

I have always had a lot of respect for Billy Sheehan.  He blew me away when I saw him when he was a member of the David Lee Roth band in 80’s.  Since then I have always considered Billy to be one of the top bass players in hard rock. I must admit that I had low expectations with Holy Cow.  I haven’t had a whole lot of luck with the solo CD’s I have picked up in the past.  They are typically hit or miss, and they usually get shelved fairly quickly. I don’t think that is going to happen with Holy Cow.

Sheehan has crafted some pretty cool tunes on this disc.  I wouldn’t consider Billy Sheehan a great singer but  he does do good job on the tunes here.  His music is far better than his vocals, and his bass work as well as guitar playing  is superb on this disc.

“In A Week or Two”, “A Lit’l Bit’l Do It To ‘Ya Ev’ry Time” (with Billy Gibbons on guitar), and “A Bloodless Casuality’ are amongst Holy Cow’s best moments.

The instrumental tracks are better than I expected them to be. “Dynamic Exhilarator” features Sheehan’s long time Mr. Big band mate, Paul Gilbert on guitar. “Theme From An Imaginary Sci Fi” is fun, only to hear Sheehan go off on his bass.

There are a few songs that I prefer to skip through as they just didn’t do it for me. I think a couple of instrumental tracks is fine, but five is a bit overkill in my opinion.

The Bottom line: this isn’t a perfect CD by any means, but it does have some good songs and definite replayability. It is definitely a CD that will appeal to Billy Sheehan’s long time fans.

For more information on Billy Sheehan, and “Holy Cow”, check out the Billy Sheehan myspace page.

Rating: Out of 10

Track Listing:

1. In A Week or Two
2. A Lit’l Bit’l Do It To ‘Ya Ev’ry Time
3. Dynamic Exhilarator
4. A Bloodless Casuality
5. Make It To Another Day
6. Just Another Humanoid
7. Turning Point
8. Theme From An Imaginary Sci Fi
9. Another Broken Promise
10. Two People Can Keep A Secret
11. Cell Towers Listen
12. She Goes from Cruel To Missionary
13. Sweat on an E String
14. Swimming Underwater