Jack has never sounded better than on the bonus track here – the cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ which I must admit I sneakily skipped to before I settled down for the main event. And what a main event it is – the acoustic reworking of Great Whites’ ‘Once Bitten’ that is ‘Twice Shy Acoustic Bytes’.
Opening with fan favorite ‘Lady Redlight’ you’re immediately struck by the thought that has gone into these arrangements. They’re not just your simple ‘unplugged’ sit down and strum recordings, they’re full of life and that attention to detail pays huge dividends throughout. It’s so successful in fact that I can honestly say I actually think is one of the very best ‘acoustic’ albums I’ve heard in the last 20 or so years. So let’s get stuck right in…
‘Gonna Getcha’ is a song I don’t think the band ever played live more than once after the 90’s and here it has a real AD/DC-like vibe and sounds kinda cool with Jack giving his all and the rhythm section hitting every mark allowing the guitars to add texture and depth.
It’s time for the big guns next though. ‘Rock Me’ in my opinion is one of the finest Bluesy Hard Rock songs ever written and here it’s simply sublime and Jack absolutely is all over it! Honestly the arrangement here is genius and I can’t say enough about Jack’s vocal – he sounds like a man of half his age.
‘All Over Now’ is another song that sounds wonderfully fresh here and which always one of my favourite Great White songs. Stripped back it might sound even better, and I love the Spanish-flavored solo.
After those highlights ‘Mistreater’ adds a deeper Blues, and this interpretation is given plenty of space before the familiar riff crashes in. ‘Never Change’ sounds really good here; as does the frenetic and fun ‘Fast Road’ which starts with a simple shuffle and is driven by some wonderful percussion and a simple Spanish flavour. That leaves just a couple and ‘Living on the Edge,’ another song, like ‘Fast Road’ that never really gets an outing sound great too. It will have you pulling out ‘Once Bitten’ again and having another listen.
‘Save Your Love’ the ballad that closes was at the time maybe the best ‘power ballad’ of all and now 33 years on it shows that eternal truth still holds – a great song is a great song forever it doesn’t matter how you dress it up. As Steve Marriott once said “If it works with just an acoustic guitar and a voice it’s a great song”. Every song here stands up to that test and the cover of ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ will just sweetens the pot further.
‘Once Bitten’ was of course Great White’s third studio album released way back in 1987 it sounds great 33 years later and really suits this treatment. This is great music to savour in isolation and beyond.
9/10
