On
Bad Company's fourth album,
Burnin' Sky, the band's approach was simple and formulaic, although
Mick Ralphs continued to play his sparse guitar leads and
Paul Rodgers continued to present his lust in a soulful voice. Lacking a hit single, this was the first
Bad Company album to miss the Top Ten in the U.S. and the U.K., as the band tossed in a '50s pastiche in "Everything I Need" and crooned "The Happy Wanderer" as if on a drunken pub crawl. There were plenty of those patented ominous midtempo rockers, too, of course. ~ William Ruhlmann