BLACKJACK
Blackjack (Polydor) 1979
1. Love Me Tonight (2:58)
2. Heart Of Stone (3:54)
3. The Night Has Me Calling For You (2:56)
4. Southern Ballad (3:45)
5. Fallin' (3:32)
6. Without Your Love (3:45)
7. Countin' On You (3:35)
8. I'm Aware Of Your Love (3:37)
4. For You (4:44)
5. Heart Of Mine (2:55)
Blackjack is the eponymous debut album from American rockers Blackjack. Of course this album is most know for being the early hard rock band of Michael Bolton, here listed as Bolotin. As well, future KISS/Grand Funk guitarist Bruce Kulick was in this band. The band also features bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Sandy Gennaro (Joan Jett & Pat Travers, amongst others).
Back in the early 80's I snatched up a vinyl copy due to the cool diecut album cover without even knowing anything about the band. Took it home and gave it some spin time, only to shelve it for years. Once Kulick joined Kiss in the mid-80's, I had to pull this album out and give it a fresh spin. Again, gave it some spin time for a while only to shelve it and forget about it for another decade. Fast forward to 2015 and a CD copy shows up in my mailbox to give a fresh spin to. Again, I gave it several listens. Blackjack are a hard rock band who are certainly enjoyable when I am spinning them, but unfortunately the album is mostly forgettable. The overall sound is a bit too clean and lacks an edge, despite some solid vocals from Bolotin, who here sounds more like David Coverdale than the lounge crooner he would become in the 1980's. One of the albums singles "Love Me Tonight" could have been so much better with some big, heavy power chords behind it. As it stands, the song lacks something to make it pop. Standout tracks include "Without Your Love", which might have been a hit if recorded by Foreigner the same year, "Heart Of Stone" and "The Night Has Me Calling For You".