Maximum High

Personnel: Rick Witter (vocals); Paul Banks (guitar); Alan Leach (snare drum, percussion).
Audio Mixer: Chris Sheldon.
Recording information: Master Rock; RAK.
Producing five massive U.K. singles, Shed Seven's sophomore effort is the band's most consistently engaging album. Borrowing more from trad-rock than many of their peers, Shed Seven essentially created an album full of inspirational anthems -- three of the album's singles seem to deal with achievement of some sort. This is no drawback, however, as many of the songs on A Maximum High are excellent shout-along, arena-ready numbers. The set as a whole is far more consistent than their spotty debut and contains very little filler. While Shed Seven scarcely explore any unfamiliar territory, A Maximum High is a very consistent and listenable disc of mid-1990s mainstream rock & roll. ~ Jason Damas