Simon Rushworth
44: Mr Big – Just Take My Heart (Martin/Pessis/Call) b/w To Be With You (live) (Martin/Grahame) 1992
The lesser known of the two standout singles from Mr Big’s breakthrough album Lean Into It this is another slick slice of All-American FM-friendly soft rock guaranteed to find favour with the hair metal generation.
It may not have topped the charts Stateside like the classic To Be With You but the great thing about this slab of seven inch heaven is the B-side – a barnstorming live version of the band’s best-known anthem.
Richie Kotzen’s exceptional fret work is, as always, a highlight and if earnest singer Eric Martin lacked the quality of many soft metal contemporaries his voice suited the Mr Big sound to perfection.
Rumours of a full reunion in 2009 abound with plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band’s self-titled debut and a headline tour of Japan in the pipeline. If Extreme, White Lion and Great White can still hack it then why not their stable mates Mr Big? Both songs on this record offer a timely reminder that this was a band more than capable of holding is own in the melody-fuelled MTV-obsessed rock arena of the early 1990s.