''The Way It Is'' is a studio album by former

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

and

Trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

vocalist/ bassist Glenn Hughes. It was released in 1999 on

Nippon Crown is a Japanese record label established as Crown Records on 6 September 1963. It is a spin-off of Nippon Columbia and is owned by karaoke maker Daiichikosho. The record label singles which topped the Oricon Singles Chart are Kaze's "22-Sai no ...

, SPV and

Shrapnel Records Shrapnel Records is an American record label group founded by record producer Mike Varney. The group principally uses the ''Shrapnel Records'' record label, a guitar-oriented label which features shred guitar, hard rock, metal and progressive ...

and was Hughes’ sixth solo studio album.

History

While Hughes' previous album, 1996's ''

Addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

'', had a serious, quite dramatic and heavy sound with songs that focused on the turmoil in his life, its follow-up, ''The Way It Is'', has a distinctly lighter tone. The

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

edge of ''Addiction'' was replaced with

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

-infused one. However, unlike 1995's '' Feel'', which had definite funk,

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

sounds, ''The Way It Is'' keeps the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

Hughes is best known for. This was Hughes' second album to feature long-time guitarist Jocke 'JJ' Marsh; the two of them worked closely on the album, locking themselves away in Hughes'

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

home in November 1998. The album also features two songs co-written with funk guitarist

Stevie Salas Stevie Salas (born November 17, 1964) is an American guitarist, author, television host, music director, record producer, film composer, and former advisor of contemporary music at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Salas ...

and performed by Hughes, Salas and former

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

, now

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pu ...

drummer

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

. The three of them had originally planned to put an album together, but this did not appear. "You Kill Me" and "Second Son" are the only tracks by the three of them to be released. Other musicians on the album include guitarist-keyboardist Marc Bonilla, who worked closely with Hughes on ''Addiction'', but has a lesser role on this album.

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He be ...

provides organ parts on two songs and Hughes' usual drummer of the period, Gary Ferguson, performs on all the non-Salas/Sorum numbers. A cover of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

's "

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

" (originally from '' The Cry of Love'') is featured on the album and an additional remix of the song appears at the end of the record, although it is not listed on the album sleeve-notes.

Track listing

#"The Way It Is" – 5:44 ''(Sampo Axelsson, Hughes, Marsh)'' #"You Kill Me" – 3:31 ''(Hughes, Salas)'' #"Neverafter" – 5:13 ''(Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Rain On Me" – 5:26 ''(Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Curse" – 4:49 ''(Axelsson, Hughes, Marsh)'' #"

" – 4:18 ''(Hendrix)'' #"The Truth Will Set Me Free" – 3:38 ''(Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Stoned In The Temple" – 4:08 ''(Bonilla, Hughes)'' #"Too Far Gone" – 4:54 ''(Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Second Son" – 3:39 ''(Hughes, Salas)'' #"Take You Down" – 4:35 ''(Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Don't Look Away" – 5:37 ''(Axelsson, Hughes, Marsh)'' #"Freedom (Shagmeister Mix)" – 5:10 ''(Hendrix)''

Personnel

* Glenn Hughes –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Joakim Marsh –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s on all except tracks 2, 8, 10 * Marc Bonilla – guitar, keyboards, strings on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 * Gary Ferguson –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

on all except tracks 2 & 10 * Hans Zermüehlen – keyboards on tracks 3, 4, 5, 11 Special guests: *

– guitars on tracks 2 & 10 *

–

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s on tracks 2 & 10 *

–

Organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

on tracks 8 & 12 * George Nastos – Street Funk Guitar on track 11

References

External links

The Way It Is entry at glennhughes.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Way It Is Glenn Hughes albums 1999 albums