by Steve Huey

With Paul Gilbert gone to pursue a solo career, Mr. Big regrouped with ex-Poison guitarist Richie Kotzen on Get Over It, released in Japan in 1999 but not in the U.S. until the following year. Kotzen's playing is slightly less flashy, but he still has obvious chops to burn and lends more of a blues-rock sound to the material than Gilbert. Collectively, Mr. Big is less reliant on ballads here than on previous releases, and the rocking cuts are a bit more subdued, staking out a sort of middle ground between the two extremes of the group's sound. Occasionally, the results can seem a little bland, or just agreeably workmanlike. At the same time, however, the overall approach befits Mr. Big's status as hard-rock veterans, and the best tracks prove that the band is aging pretty gracefully. Given the loss of an important member and the musical climate in 2000, Get Over It is actually a fairly respectable effort.