Having toured in 2019 – following their 2013 debut and its 2015 follow-up, Hot Streak, – The Winery Dogs have returned to the studio. No slouches, the Dogs lineup continue to star Richie Kotzen on guitar, Billy Sheehan on bass and drummer Mike Portnoy, with all three contributing vocals.
The trio insist that when they record – as live, in the room together – it's the songs that come first and the performances second, but that’s not what comes across. The playing is off-the-scale A-list, but when each number ends it’s the technical wizardry that lingers in the memory, not the melody.
Xanadu, Breakthrough and The Vengeance are fine, but only Stars – at once broody and funky, with some otherworldly guitar from Kotzen – is superb both while you’re listening and in retrospect.
III is good but not great.
