Highway 101 - Bing Bang Boom

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth and final album on Warner for 80s twangers Highway 101: "Bing Bang Boom" (1991). "Bing Bang Boom" was also the first album for the band after the departure of lead singer Paulette Carlson, who's husky vocal had defined Highway 101's music for the first four years of their existence. Instead, they employed Nikki Nelson to take the reins - and there are plenty of pundits who say that Nelson didn't stand up in the shoes left by Carlson. Perhaps not as an identifiable a vocal, admittedly - it's this reviewer's opinion that Nelson's voice fit Highway 101's sound wonderfully. The band loses nothing as they power through a set of neo-traditional tunes on "Bing Bang Boom" that ought to have performed better on the charts. Highway 101's best commercial days were behind them, but with highlights including the rollicking "Storm Of Love"; the twangalicious heartbreaker "River Of Tears"; a stellar version of "Restless Kind" before either Travis Tritt and Trisha Yearwood got to it and the aching "The Blame" - the foursome have smoothed over any cracks left by Paulette Carlson's departure.