Straight Shooter (Bad Company album)

Straight Shooter is the second studio album by the English hard rock supergroup Bad Company. The album was released on 28 March 1975.

The album reached number 3 on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America a month after its release. The album was remastered and re-released in 1994.

The track "Shooting Star" (written by lead singer Paul Rodgers) was lyrically inspired by the drug and alcohol-related deaths of guitarist Jimi Hendrix and other rock musicians.

Background
In May 1974, Bad Company released their self-titled debut album. Three months later, the band and recording engineer Ron Nevison recorded at least eight songs at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, England. Sometime later Nevison mixed the songs for Straight Shooter at Air Studios in London. The sleeve for the album was designed by Hipgnosis, who also designed their debut album.

The first single from the album, "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", was released in March 1975 and reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's final single "Feel like Makin' Love" was released in June and reached No. 10 on the Hot 100.

Critical reception
Robert Christgau felt that although Straight Shooter was better than its predecessor, it should not be labelled hard rock because Paul Rodgers did not have a strong voice, which is needed to be a rock singer.

Ed Naha's feeling of the album, as stated in Rolling Stone, was much more favourable than Christgau's. Naha thought that, with their second album, Bad Company was proving that they would not end up like Mott the Hoople, Free, or King Crimson—bands that Bad Company's members used to be part of. Naha also thought that Simon Kirke's "Anna" was as bad as it was when it was first recorded, but that "Weep No More" showed that he was progressing as a writer, while Boz Burrell was also making progress on the bass.

Gautam Baksi's review of the album for AllMusic said that the album's popularity was attributed to the acoustic ballads "Shooting Star" and "Feel like Makin' Love", while the two songs written by Simon Kirke—"Anna" and "Weep No More"—as well as the album not having enough supporting songs and follow-up singles, were what made the album less successful than its predecessor.

Non-album tracks

 * 1) "Whiskey Bottle" (Rodgers, Ralphs, Burrell) – 3:44
 * 2) *Released as the B-side of the "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" single.

Personnel

 * Bad Company
 * Paul Rodgers – vocals, guitar, piano
 * Mick Ralphs – guitar, keyboards
 * Boz Burrell – bass
 * Simon Kirke – drums


 * Production
 * Produced by Bad Company
 * Mastered by George Marino

Charts

 * Weekly charts


 * Year-end charts