A decade after releasing the group’s forgotten swan song
Golden State,
Gavin Rossdale assembled a new lineup of
Bush -- only retaining drummer
Robin Goodridge, replacing guitarist
Nigel Pulsford and bassist
Dave Parsons with
Chris Traynor and
Corey Britz -- for a 2011 comeback called
Sea of Memories. Hiring mainstream hard rock impresario
Bob Rock as a producer is a pretty good indication that
Rossdale is no longer desperate for indie cred -- a perennial Achilles’ heel for the model-handsome rocker, who as recently as 2005, hired
Helmet guitarist
Page Hamilton to produce the also-forgotten post-
Bush outfit Institute's album Distort Yourself -- and is ready to make the big, glossy record he never cut in the wake of
Sixteen Stone. Such slick settings are a comfortable fit for
Bush, better than either the jagged textures of
Steve Albini or the odd electronica flirtations of
Langer/
Winstanley’s
The Science of Things.
Rock wisely emphasizes
Rossdale's instinct for arena rock hooks, not hiding the similarities between the opening riff of “All My Life” and
Bad Company's “Feel Like Making Love,” urging
Bush to surrender to the sweet temptations of gussied-up power ballads, pushing them toward silly glammy singalongs like “She’s a Stallion,” all the while layering on guitars so heavily processed they sound like keyboards. It’s a piece of loud, sparkly, sonic candy with much of its appeal laying on the surface, but it suits
Rossdale's poppiest set of songs, tunes that greatly benefit from
Gavin no longer fighting his innate ability to please large crowds. Now, those large crowds may or may not exist in 2011 -- it’s unclear who exactly is clamoring for a new
Bush album 15 years after their popular peak -- but as a record, this
The Sea of Memories is easily the most enjoyable collection of songs released under
Bush's name. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine