To many of us Phil Soussan is the bass player from the Ozzy Osbourne band circa “The Ultimate Sin". Phil held down the bottom end on Ozzy’s smash hit “Shot In The dark". That was way back in 1986.Since those heady days Phil hasn’t sat on his laurels and has worked and played with Jimmy Page, Billy Idol, Steve Lukather, Vince Neil, John Waite, Johnny Hallyday, Ritchie Kotzen and  Edgar Winter. Working with these major artists shows the respect Phil has in the music industry and has enabled him to call on some great musicians to accompany him on this solo outing.

Considering Phil's rock background it came as a surprise and a nice one at that to put this album on and find a great disc of finely crafted singer/songwriter material in the vein of Crowded House or Toto in one of their mellow moments.

The opening track “Human race” is a solo track in every sense with Phil doing all the guitars, bass, solos and vocals with drums being provided by Greg Bissonette (Dave Lee Roth Band, Joe Satriani). It’s a great song which grooves almost hypnotically which must come from Phil being a bassist by trade who knows how to interact with drums to perfection. Phil also does “everything” on “Smile” to great effect.

On many occasions Phil is using virtually all of Toto as his backing group. For instance on “Open Your Eyes” he brings along David Paich on keyboards and Simon Phillips on drums and on “Long As You Live” we get Simon Phillips once again but paired up with the one and only Steve Lukather on guitar.

One shouldn’t dwell too much on who’s playing what as this album is first and foremost Phil Soussan's baby and out of the twelve songs only two have co-writing credits.

As mentioned earlier this is not a hard rock record but a mature singer/songwriter album. There are some songs which really stand out. "Friend By My Side” and “In America” to name two which feature some gorgeous slithery and slinky guitar solos from Ritchie Kotzen (Mr. Big, Poison)

On the track “Waters Edge” Phil manages to create an almost Pink Floyd vibe .Not in an experimental or far out way but in the way he teases notes from his guitar.

In the liner notes it appears Steve Lukather has been gently nudging Phil to do this solo album for some time and Mr Lukather obviously realised that there is a lot more to Phil than first meets the eye.

The only thing that possibly holds this release back from being exceptional is Phil's vocals. It's not a criticism as such , it’s just he doesn't strike the listener as a natural singer. When he layers his vocals as harmonies it really works but his vocals sound a little too delicate at times. If Phil has another solo album in the pipeline I think employing guest singers on some tracks would really lift proceedings. At times I could imagine Eric Martin singing some of these numbers.

One thing for sure though is this album appears to be a labour of love. All the numbers are exceptionally arranged and Phil obviously knows what makes a song tick. I think this comes from his bass playing background as every part is in the right place.

Music lovers who like their listening to be on the more mellow and thoughtful side would be wise to track this album down and give it a listen as on each listen it offers more rewards and if you take a shine to Phil's vocals you are on to a winner.

Let Us Know Your Views On 'Vibrate'

Track List

Human Race
Open Your Eyes
Friend By My Side
Elderberry Trees
In America
No Regrets
Smile
Killing Time
Long As You Live
Haunted
She Couldn't Cry
Water's Edge

Line  Up

Drums -Simon Phillips, Gregg Bissonette,
Guitars - Richie Kotzen, Steve Lukather, Trev Lukather, Shane Fontayne,
Keyboards -David Paich, Jeff Babko, Steve Porcaro
Vocals/bass/guitars - Phil Soussan