It's shortly after 10 a.m. Monday morning when Paul Rodgers enters the spacious suite in New York's Drake Hotel to join guitarist Mick Ralphs for their first Bad Company interview together in twenty years.| Rodgers has brought his acoustic guitar ("So we can whittle if we get a moment") and Ralphs seems genuinely delighted at the prospect. In fact, both men appear nothing less than exuberant despite the early hour, ready to talk about their reunion, ready to discuss their legacy and, above all, ready for the love that awaits them this summer when the original Bad Company embark on a thirty-date arena tour beginning June 26.

"Sheds are great, but everybody does them in the summer," says Ralphs, who bumped into the likes of the Doobies and Skynyrd on the shed circuit for years leading latter-day, Rodgers-less incarnations of Bad Company. But this year's plan is different. "With arenas, you can make them your own venue for that day, and it's more of a special event, like, 'Bad Company's in town.'"

What makes this Bad Company tour in question so special is that it will feature the classic lineup of Rodgers, Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell that debuted in 1974 as the first act on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label. Comprised of veterans of Free (Rodgers and Kirke), Mott the Hoople (Ralphs) and King Crimson (Burrell), Bad Company was not the first supergroup in rock, but certainly one of the most successful. Take away the original six albums released by the quartet, and classic rock radio as we know it would declare a state of emergency: songs like "Ready For Love," "Movin' On," "Rock and Roll Fantasy" and "Shooting Star" are as vital to the format as any contributions from Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac or the Eagles.

"The original Bad Company was the soundtrack to a lot of people's lives," says Rodgers. "I mean, if you listen to some of the music, a lot of the music, actually, it could be said that Bad Company is responsible for the population explosion during the Seventies, because so many kids were conceived to 'Feel Like Making Love.'"

Given that Rodgers is presently wearing a 'Paul Rodgers' T-shirt from a recent solo tour, it's no stretch to imagine Bad Company music playing while his own kids were conceived. It was Rodgers' desire to devote more time to his family that led him to leave the group after the recording of 1981's Rough Diamonds. Burrell would follow him a few years later, while Ralphs and Kirke pressed on with new singer Brian Howe for four albums (and several surprise pop-metal hits) and newer singer (and Rodgers sound-alike) Robert Hart for two.

"The way that whole thing came to be called Bad Company was a mistake," admits a duly sheepish Ralphs. "I was very anti the whole set-up. The later configuration was a little bit better in as much that the people were a little more agreeable, and there was more of the essence of the original, but it was never the same as the original situation. Those other dalliances, if you like, were nowhere near the real thing at all, and I regret my involvement in those situations."

"These guys had affairs with other singers!" exclaims Rodgers, not about to let his band-mate off so easily. But he smiles as he says it, claiming that he never really felt bitter about the situation. But he did get tired of hearing fans, apparently fresh from a time capsule, tell him that they went to see Bad Company and were shocked that he wasn't there. "That was kind of weird to me," he says. "One of the reasons that I wanted to put the band back together was to set the record straight as to what is the real Bad Company."

It was to that end that Rodgers and Ralphs reassembled the original pack last November to record four new songs for the double disc anthology, The 'Original' Bad Company Anthology. The icebreaker came during rehearsals when Rodgers counted off "Can't Get Enough of Your Love," a song they hadn't played together in twenty years. "We weren't ready, but as soon as he counted it in, we just played it automatically," smiles Ralphs. "All those years in between sort of melted all of a sudden. I think we all felt it would work, but you can't be sure until you actually try it. And it did."

A reunion tour in support of the Anthology was the next logical step, says Rodgers. As for beyond that, they're keeping their options -- and minds -- open. "That way," explains Ralphs, "the reason for doing it would be a good reason, rather than being committed to doing stuff you're not sure about..."

"The band would not come together if the spark wasn't there," agrees Rodgers. "If this was just sort of a bread-making machine, or one of those kind of trips, then it definitely wouldn't work for any of us. But the new music that we've played, like 'Hey, Hey,' that rocked pretty good. So while that's there, it's something to do."

"Hey, Hey" and the other new songs do indeed rock "pretty good," but not at all like it's 1999 -- suffice to say, those fans shocked to find Rodgers missing from Bad Company in the Eighties weren't the only ones stuck in the Seventies. Rodgers is convinced, however, that the classic Bad Co. sound is ripe for a millennial revival.

"There seems to be a swing back now where people want to return to the central core of what is basic rock & roll," he says. "It's a heart and soul thing, singing from the guts... There are certain records that are great these days, but in general rock doesn't seem to have the depth, the meaning that it did. The magic went out of it somewhere. We're here to put the roll back in the rock."

RICHARD SKANSE(April 8, 1999)