CLASSIC ALBUM: Mr. Big – Lean Into It

Just as Extreme will be forever known for their ballad More Than Words, Mr. Big’s claim to fame may have been their acoustic hit To Be With You but it proved to be a double-edged sword. The success of the song eclipsed the remainder of the album, Lean Into It, and the guitar talents of Paul Gilbert were overlooked in favour of the sing-along charms of their chart-topping single. Lean Into It was their sophomore effort and came two years after the release of the self-titled debut. Distributed by Atlantic Records, their second album arrived at the end of the hair metal scene and at the rise of grunge, which proved to be both a blessing and a curse. Audiences were ready to embrace a new kind of music but Mr. Big was not to be it.

Mr. Big were never a great band but they also never got the respect they deserved. Their songs were cheesy, they lacked the charisma of groups like Poison and Guns N’ Roses and they were difficult to market. But they were three tight musicians and a singer with a unique voice that, when reaching their full potential, were vastly underrated. Gilbert by this point was already an established guitarist, having gained minor acclaim through his work with both Missing Lynx and Racer X, and he incorporated various styles into his playing that ranged from Van Halen-style solos to blues. Often it is the singing that lets down the music, as Eric Martin failed to live up to the potential of his bandmates. This was not to say that he was not a good singer, he was just unable to match their talents and lacked any kind of stage presence to make up for this.

The best song on Lean Into It is without a doubt Green Tinted Sixties Minded, a tune written by Gilbert that begins with an excellent guitar riff and proves to be an enjoyable pop sing. Wisely, the band released this as the first single from the album but it failed to enjoy the success that it so rightly deserved. Gilbert is also able to show off his talents on Voodoo Kiss, which opens with a short acoustic introduction that suddenly bursts into an electric blues-like number, which never quit matches the first thirty seconds. Never Say Never features a relatively simply-yet-effective guitar riff that is one of the funkier songs on the album and would have made a decent single.

This was the era of the ballad and Lean Into It would include its fair share, both of which would be enjoy chart success. The first of these was Just Take My Heart, which is little more than a run-of-the-mill power ballad that sounds like it was recorded to accompany some Mannequin-style romantic comedy. The other, of course, is To Be With You, which needs no introduction as it is still the most famous song the band released and, despite its cheese factor, stands up well almost twenty years later. Lean Into It was not the best album of the era and was overshadowed by Nirvana’s Nevermind, as many other albums were, but when it hits the right notes it works well.