Sakalli
Freedom to Music
Morphine – The Night (2000) (@192)
02 Mar 2007
(Review from allmusic.com, wikipedia)
On July 3, 1999 singer-bassist-frontman Mark Sandman collapsed on stage at the Giardini del Principe in Palestrina, Italy (near Rome). He was soon pronounced dead of a heart attack and Morphine immediately disbanded.
Many Morphine fans assumed that Like Swimming would be the band’s swansong — thankfully, it wasn’t. The Boston trio had completed their fifth album just prior to Sandman’s untimely passing, entitled The Night, and it’s definitely an improvement over its predecessor.
Whereas many of the songs on their previous album sounded unfinished and rushed, The Night sounds like a fully realized work. In fact, the band took time to focus on expanding their minimalist sound to include other instruments (cello, violin, upright bass, oud, organ) and new approaches (female backup singers, string arrangements), while Sandman produced the album himself. Highlights include the ghostly “Souvenir,” the Middle Eastern sounds of “Rope on Fire,” the sultry album-opening title track, and the up-tempo (by Morphine standards, anyway) “Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer.” The Night shows that Morphine was just entering a new phase of their career, and it’s a shame that Mark Sandman is no longer with us to follow through on this promising new direction.
Track List:
01. The Night – 4:50
02. So Many Ways – 4:01
03. Souvenir – 4:40
04. Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer – 5:44
05. Like a Mirror – 5:26
06. A Good Woman Is Hard to Find – 4:14
07. Rope on Fire – 5:36
08. I’m Yours, You’re Mine – 3:46
09. The Way We Met – 2:59
10. Slow Numbers – 3:58
11. Take Me With You – 4:54
Link in comments.
Magna Carta – Seasons (1970) (@256)
01 Mar 2007
(Review from allmusic.com, wikipedia, mangac.com)
Magna Carta was originally formed in London in 10 May 1969 by Chris Simpson (guitar, vocals, Harmonica), Lyell Tranter (guitar, vocals) and Glen Stuart (vocals). The band are renowned for their gentle ballad style and mythical subject matter. Although never purely a folk band, they managed to successfully bridge the gap between folk and folk rock. The trio released albums for Fontana Records and Vertigo Records, enjoying particular success with 1970s Seasons before Tranter returned to Australia.
Magna Carta’s second album was dominated by the 22-minute, nine-part suite “Seasons,” which took up all of side one. “Seasons” was indeed a grand conceptual work inspired by the changing of the seasons. The exquisite Seasons concept piece, which, to use the words of Chris Simpson, was “based on the life journey of the soul, and the rounds of the Seasons in my beloved Nidderdale”. Its laudable ambition apart, it’s pretty ordinary, mild pop-influenced early-’70s British folk-rock. There’s a dated preciousness as it varies the pace slightly from jolly full-band good-time folk-rock and pastoral harmonizing to twee fairytale-like narration and almost pop-like orchestration. The six standard-length songs on side two can strike an almost too-cheerful pop-folk bounce, with soft rock orchestration and harmonies that make it vaguely reminiscent of American sunshine pop at points. Simon & Garfunkel are an obvious influence, too, on songs like “Give Me No Goodbye” (overlaid with slight sitar licks), “Scarecrow,” and “Elizabethan,” though Magna Carta could make Simon & Garfunkel sound almost heavy in comparison. The closing “Airport Song,” which was plucked from the LP as a shot for a hit single, goes furthest into pop with its bossa nova beat and easy listening arrangement, though the Simon & Garfunkel influence in the vocal harmonies is nearly overwhelming.
Line-up:
- Chris Simpson / guitar, vocals
- Lyell Tranter / guitars
- Glenn Stuart / vocals
with
- Tony Carr / drums
- Spike Heatley / bass, accoustic bass
- Derek Grossmith / Flute
- davey johnstone / guitar, vocals
- Barry Morgan / drums
- Tony Visconti / bass, percussion and recorder
- Rick Wakeman / organ, piano and keyboards
- Tim Renwick / recorder
- Peter Willison / cello
- London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gus Dudgeon
Track List:
01. Seasons
02. Goin’ My Way (Road Song)
03. Elizabethan
04. Give Me No Goodbye
05. Ring of Stones
06. Scarecrow
07. Airport Song
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Ufo – Force It (1975) (@320)
01 Mar 2007
(Review from allmusic.com)
Michael Schenker and Phil Mogg really started to find their groove as a songwriting team with their second album together (and fourth UFO release overall), Force It. In fact, the last remaining folk and space rock tendencies that had stolen much of Phenomenon’s thunder are summarily abandoned here, as the group launches itself wholeheartedly toward the hard rock direction that would make them stars. The first step is taken by Schenker, of course, who confidently establishes the aggressive, biting guitar tone that would define all the releases of the band’s glory years. “Let It Roll” and “Shoot Shoot” kick off the album in rousing fashion, and while holding them under a microscope might reveal them as rather disposable slabs of hard rock, they would remain concert favorites for the band nonetheless. The punchy single “Love Lost Love” sounds tailor-made for the American market and acoustic ballad “High Flyer” is quite good, despite taking a dip in energy. But things only really start to gell on the album’s second half. Schenker and Mogg wheel out their most mature composition yet with the piano-led “Out in the Street,” whose softer sections truly highlight Mogg’s highly disciplined, understated vocal style and make the guitar player’s more restrained soloing all the more memorable. Schenker is soon back in charge, however, on the stuttering riffs and blistering fretboard work of “Mother Mary” and the downright vicious stop-start strut of “This Kids” — both UFO anthems. One of the band’s best albums, Force It will not disappoint lovers of ’70s English hard rock.
Line-up:
* Phil Mogg – vocals
* Andy Parker – drums
* Pete Way – bass
* Michael Schenker – guitar
Track List:
01. Let It Roll – 3:57
02. Shoot Shoot – 3:40
03. High Flyer – 4:08
04. Love Lost Love – 3:21
05. Out In The Street – 5:18
06. Mother Mary – 3:49
07. Too Much Of Nothing – 4:02
08. Dance Your Life Away – 3:35
09. This Kids (including Between The Walls) – 6:13
Link in comments.
Morphine – B-Sides and Otherwise (1997) (@192)
01 Mar 2007
(Review by Rainier Simoneaux)
A vintage illustration on the cover of this collection of rare live cuts, soundtrack efforts, and other songs mined from Morphine’s past portrays a woman spiking a dish of pasta with poisonous ingredients. Unfortunately, such a noxious blend is not too far from the usual result when a band purges its vaults and issues their findings within a single volume – a few cuts of remarkable quality debased by others which are so uninspired so as to make one question why they were recorded in the first place. Morphine’s B-Sides and Otherwise , though, is at least derived from some quality stock. Since forming in 1992, this Boston-based band has nurtured a distinctive sound based on the smokey, brooding saxophone of Dana Colley and the visceral voice and Beat lyrics of Mark Sandman to create what may be the most uniquely potent music of this decade.
Of the twelve tracks amassed here, however, only the first three capture the minimalist three-piece’s craft at its sharpest, perhaps because they are recordings of live radio broadcasts of previously released material. Each of these embody the cool intensity which Morphine brings to a live show and are engineered to perfection (making one wonder about the power a live collection might contain). The remainder of the tracks vary from ambient instrumental soundtrack material to “Pulled over the Car”, a quirky, angular song from the Yes sessions which has become a staple of their live sets over the past few years. Other songs, such as “Sundayafternoonweightlessness”, give glimpses into Morphine’s more improvisational experiments. Ironically, it’s during these attempts at the avant-garde (“Kerouac”, “My Brain”) that they become almost innocuous and banal – one can appreciate the light of day without having to stare directly into the sun.
Though hardly as consistent and solid as their previous albums, B-Sides and Otherwise should be a welcomed addition to the collection of devoted fans. Those who have yet to discover the emotionally explosive sounds of Morphine would be doing themselves a disservice by not checking into their previous studio material.
Track List:
01. Have A Lucky Day
02. All Right
03. I Know You-Part Two
04. Bo’s Veranda
05. Mile High
06. Shame
07. Down Love’s Tributaries
08. Kerouac
09. Pulled Over The Car
10. Sundayafternoonwieghtlessness
11. Mail
12. My Brain is Fried
Link in comments.
Morphine – Like Swimming (1997) (@192)
28 Feb 2007
(Review from amazon.com)
Morphine’s music, which connects with listeners on a very physical level, is so simple it’s amazing no one’s done it before. Using exclusively low-register instruments, Mark Sandman’s two-string bass and baritone voice, and Dana Colley’s bass and baritone saxophones, the band’s songs actually reverberate in the chest, treating listeners to a low-impact massage. And anything that feels this good can’t be bad.
But Morphine’s blessing–that distinctive low rock sound–is also their curse. Not only do they bind themselves to an instantly recognizable sound, but they also limit themselves in their arrangements: Voice and sax can each hit only one note at a time (though Colley sometimes manages to honk two saxes at once), while the bass can manage a two-note interval at best. It’s hard being dynamic using only three or four sounds.
So where does that leave Like Swimming, Morphine’s fourth album (and first since signing on with the big boys at DreamWorks)? Pretty much where the band started, it seems–with a blessing and a curse. As with past records, Like Swimming is easy to appreciate, full of loping bass lines and slithery sax riffs that strut through jazzy rock numbers like “Wishing Well” and “Empty Box.” But while newcomers may be happy with the band’s warm swing, others will pine for the first time they heard the band’s earlier breakthrough on Cure For Pain. Only with the album closer “Swing It Low” (a title that could be a band manifesto) does Morphine hint at changes to come: With guitar, keyboards, programmed drums, and no saxophone, the song (first released as a Sandman solo project) proves it possible to capture Morphine’s noir moods in midrange as well.
Line-up:
* Dana Colley / Saxophone
* Billy Conway / Drums
* Mark Sandman / Bass, Vocals
Track List:
01. Lilah
02. Potion
03. I Know You, Pt. 3
04. Early to Bed
05. Wishing Well
06. Like Swimming
07. Murder for the Money
08. French Fries With Pepper
09. Empty Box
10. Eleven O’Clock
11. Hanging on a Curtain
12. Swing It Low
Link in comments.
Tim Dawe – Penrod (1970) (@256)
28 Feb 2007
(Reveiw from Blue Orchard Records)
The old adage “timing is everything” certainly applies in the case of Jerry Penrod. Had the singer-songwriter recorded the single Junkie John a few months earlier, Penrod, whose albums appeared under the name of his alter-ego, Tim Dawe, would surely have become a major star. However, as misfortune would have it, just as Junkie John, a catchy psychedelic rock tune, was beginning to achieve serious airplay, America’s dreaded FCC launched a crack-down on all drug-related music, thereby denying Junkie John the commercial success it was surely destined to achieve. Penrod, for his part, was philosophical “I had a great fifteen minutes while it lasted” he later opined.
Penrod, which originally appeared in 1969 on Frank Zappa’s vanity label, Straight Records along with albums by Tim Buckley, Judy Henske, Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper, is justifiably regarded as one of the greatest psychedelic albums of all time. Stuffed full of folk-rock, varied keyboards and inspired acid guitar, the album contains what are now regarded as four self-penned masterpieces, and although Dawe/Penrod only added one further album to his canon of recorded work (Timothy And Ms Pickens With Natural Act, released on Half Moon Bay Records in 1976), he contributed a number of songs to albums by It’s A Beautiful Day, Rod Taylor, and even Iron Butterfly, of which he was an early member.
In every sense, from its idiosyncratic cover art to its incredible music, Penrod is a psychedelic classic.
Track List:
01. Scarlet Women
02. Nite Train Home
03. Nothing At All
04. Little Boy Blue
05. Junkie John
06. Sometimes Alone
07. No Exit (Cafe & Gallery)
08. I’m Comin’
09. Some Other Time
10. Didn’t We Love
Link in comments.
Birth Control – Hoodoo Man (1972) (@256)
28 Feb 2007
(Review from progarchives.com)
When it comes to German progressive hard rock based on the Deep Purple formula, none were better than Birth Control, formed in 1968. The band name was a reaction against the Pope’s declaration that contraceptives were sinful.
Their third album “Hoodoo Man” was released in January 1973 and contained 6 tracks that refined their sound even more. This is a brilliant album with very confident guitar and organ riffs and interplay. It has longer numbers and an energetic hard-progressive resemble more of Atomic Rooster. Noske’s voice had improved (he became one of the best German male vocalists) and he also drummed better than ever. The cover art wasn’t as outrageous as the usual Birth Control standard: just a drawing of a very big, fat woman repressing a little wind-up man!
Line-up:
- Bruno Frenzel / guitar, vocals
- Bernd Koschmidder / bass
- Wolfgang Neuser / keyboards, vibraphone
- Bernd Noske / drums, percussion, vocals
Track List:
01. Buy! (7:10)
02. Suicide (6:16)
03. Get down to your fate (7:58)
04. Gamma ray (9:44)
05. Hoodoo man (8:25)
06. KlaustoB (2:40)
Link in comments.
Kayak – See See the Sun (1973) (@256)
27 Feb 2007
(Review from progarchives.com)
An undeservedly underrated group is Kayak. Perhaps part of the reason for its relatively low profile is that it occupies a strange middle ground, with an unlikely combination of pop/rock vocal segments that owe more to Todd Rundgren than any main progressive rock group, interspersed with strong symphonic progressive rock as well. The vocals of Kayak’s first lead singer Max Werner aren’t that great, but are not a negative factor for me either while the classic line-up of Werner (vocals/mellotron), Tom Scherpenzeel (keyboards), Johan Slager (guitars), Cees van Leeuwen (bass) and Pim Koopman (drums) that cut the first two albums is highly competent, but far from flashy … even during the lengthy instrumental interludes.
To top it all, Kayak have made many line-up shifts and passed through a number of styles. While the current outfit is making strong, neo-prog tinged music, I’m one of those who thinks that this early progressive pop phase saw Kayak at its best. In fact, I don’t think it gets any better than See See The Sun.
Reason For It All ( with a healthy dose of Yes influences), the storming Mouldy Wood, the sparse, melodramatic Lovely Luna and the beautiful Beatlesque title track are probably my personal highlights, but this album has to be taken as a whole, for it is well balanced and possesses a great flow … best exemplified by the moment when the edgy rocker Hope For A Life comes right after the seduction of Lovely Luna. Kayak also prove that you don’t need length to be progressive … Mammoth goes through a number of phases in a period of less than three minutes! I really like this record, and even my least favourite track, the schmaltzy Forever Is A Lonely Thought has a very nice Scherpenzeel piano solo.
There is a light (but not lightweight) feeling about Kayak’s music that makes me think that this is one classic-era prog band that neo-prog fans will really enjoy. And even though they sound nothing like either ELO, Supertramp or the Alan Parsons Project (and indeed are emphatically more progressive) I do believe it is fans at this end of the scale who will derive the most joy from Kayak’s music. And See See The Sun, surely Kayak’s finest album, is the best place to start.
Line-up:
- Ton Scherpenzeel / piano’s Synths, organ, harpsicord, vocals, accordion
- Pim Koopman / drums, percussion, Marimba, vocals
- Johan Slager / guitars, vocals
- Max Werner / mellotrons, percussion, vocals
- Cees van Leeuwen / bass, harmonica
Track List:
01. Reason For It All (6:29)
02. Lyrics (3:42)
03. Mouldy Wood (5:16)
04. Lovely Luna (8:19)
05. Hope For A Life (6:49)
06. Ballet Of The Cripple (4:39)
07. Forever Is A Lonely Thought (5:26)
08. Mammoth (2:57)
09. See See The Sun (4:13)
10. Still Try To Write A Book (Bonus) (2:01)
11. Give It A Name (Bonus) (2:44)
Link in comments.
Joan Baez – Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square (1959) (@128-160-192)
27 Feb 2007
Sorry for the not so good quality. Better rips are welcome.
(Review from allmusic.com)
In the late ’50s, prior to signing with Vanguard, Joan Baez recorded this album in a basement, sometimes performing with Bill Wood and Ted Alevizos. It wasn’t wholly Baez’ album, as only six of the 13 tracks were Baez solo performances. On two she performed with Wood, and on one she performed with Wood and Alevizos; two of the tracks featured Wood solo, and two Alevizos solo. Baez was already handling traditional material such as “Black Is the Color,” and her voice was a little less strident than it would become when she rose to national visibility. It’s a basic recording that is primarily of historical interest, although — as those things go — it has definite value. In 1963, it was issued by Squire Records as The Best of Joan Baez, but was withdrawn after it had made the Top 50, when Baez took legal action against it.
Track List:
01. Banks Of The Ohio
02. What A Beautiful City
03. Sail Away Ladies
04. Black Is The Color
05. Lowlands
06. What You Gonna Call Your Pretty Little Baby
07. Kitty
08. So Soon In The Morning
09. Careless Love
10. Le Cheval Dans La Baignoire (Horse In The Bathtub)
11. John Henry
12. Travelin’ Shoes
13. Bold Soldier
14. Walie Walie
15. Rejected Lover
16. Astrapsen (The Sun Is Risen)
17. Lass From The Low Country
18. Don’t Weep After Me
Link in comments.
Morphine – Yes (1995) (@192)
27 Feb 2007
(Review from allmusic.com)
On their third release, 1995′s Yes, Morphine shied away from the more accessible direction they laid down on 1993′s superb Cure for Pain, going for a more challenging (but just as rewarding) direction. While the singles/videos “Honey White” and “Super Sex” did contain a pop edge (and were the album’s best), other tracks, such as “The Jury” and “Sharks” pushed the envelope by containing lyrics that sound as if they’re stream of consciousness. Like its predecessor, it’s a highly consistent album — even the lesser-known tracks are integral to the album’s overall makeup. “Scratch,” “All Your Way,” “I Had My Chance,” “Free Love,” and “Gone for Good” all sound like the observations of a broken-down man, steeped in despair. But the mood lightens up on such selections as “Radar” and the title track, plus the aforementioned singles. With nearly all alt-rock bands sounding identical and bashing angrily away at their instruments in 1995, Morphine proved to be in a league all by themselves. Yes is perhaps just a shade less spectacular than Cure for Pain, but certainly not by much.
Track List:
01. Honey White – 3:06
02. Scratch – 3:13
03. Radar – 3:28
04. Whisper – 3:28
05. Yes – 2:00
06. All Your Way – 3:04
07. Super Sex – 3:53
08. I Had a Chance – 3:05
09. The Jury – 2:07
10. Sharks – 2:22
11. Free Love – 4:14
12. Gone for Good – 2:52
Link in comments.
Whitesnake – Lovehunter (1979) (@256)
26 Feb 2007
(Review from wikipedia, amazon.co.uk)
Whitesnake was the band formed by vocalist David Coverdale after his acrimonious departure from Deep Purple. During the band’s early years, its music was primarily blues rock (although, Coverdale himself described Whitesnake’s early style as, “progressive R&B”). At this time, the band was made up of; Coverdale himself, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody and Neil Murray. The drummer and keyboard slot changed a few times.
Intended as a vehicle for his own brand of bluesy vox-heavy rock (the first album was a set of ballads), the project quickly grew to include the gargantuan keyboards and pyrotechnic percussion of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord and Ian Paice, the sound becoming fuller, the lyrics more overtly predatory. Love Hunter, recorded before Paice’s arrival, was immediately notorious for a sleeve featuring a buxom woman sitting lasciviously astride an enormous snake. Lovehunter’s lurid cover art featuring a naked white female straddling a large snake was created by famed fantasy artist Chris Achilleos. Achilleos’ original Lovehunter artwork was stolen in the 1980s and has yet to be recovered.
The album revealed Coverdale, who was often dismissed as a mere sexist rocker, to be a master of various forms–dirty, dark-hearted rock (“Mean Business”), incorrigibly sensual R&B (“Rock’n'Roll Women”), and slow, impassioned and soulful anthems (“Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues”). Leading to 10 years of unremitting success, Love Hunter was Whitesnake’s purest offering.
Line-up:
* David Coverdale – vocals
* Micky Moody – guitars
* Bernie Marsden – guitars
* Jon Lord – keyboards
* Neil Murray – bass
* Dave Dowle – drums
Track List:
01. Long Way From Home – 4:56
02. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues – 4:24
03. Help Me Thro’ The Day – 4:39
04. Medicine Man – 3:59
05. You ‘N’ Me – 3:30
06. Mean Business – 3:48
07. Love Hunter – 5:39
08. Outlaw – 4:03
09. Rock ‘N’ Roll Women – 4:45
10. We Wish You Well – 1:34
Link in comments.
Grobschnitt – Rockpommel's Land (1977) (@256)
26 Feb 2007
(Review from vintageprog.com)
From the cover to the concept, music, arrangements and atmosphere this is a very accomplished symphonic progressive rock album, and undoubtedly Grobschnitt’s finest studio-album. A concept album about a young boy who flies away in his paper-plane and meet a giant bird who takes him to a fantasy land called Rockpommel’s Land. The album consists of four, lengthy, complex and strong tracks. The arrangements are stuffed with everything you want: mellotron, organ and lots of tasteful and very symphonic sounding synths and guitars. It’s not often I hear an album that reminds me so much about why I started to listen to progressive rock in the first place. Symphonic, majestic, great and a concept so far from reality as you can get. The music is well written and structured, and there’s no point in pointing out highlights here. For any symphonic progressive rock fan, the whole album is a highlight. The lyrics are very amusing and make the album to a world of its own. If you enjoy this style of progressive rock, then you’ll surely take a lot of trips to Rockpommel’s Land.
Line-up:
- Stefan Danielak (Wildschwein) / lead vocals, acoustic & rhythm guitars
- Joachim Ehrig (Eroc) / drums, percussion, electonic f/x
- Wolfgang Jäger (Popo) / bass
- Volker Kahrs (Mist) / keyboards, Mellotron, synthesizers
- Gerd-Otto Kühn (Lupo) / acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
Track List:
01. Ernie’s Reise (10:56)
02. Severity town (10:05)
03. Anywhere (4:13)
04. Rockpommel’s Land (20:55)
05. Tontillon (6:15)
Link in comments.
Morphine – Bootleg Detroit (1994) (@192)
26 Feb 2007
(Info from wikipedia, allmusic.com, amazon.com)
Bootleg Detroit is the only authorized release of a live recording of Morphine. Recorded by a fan during Cure for Pain tour on March 7, 1994 at St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit, Michigan, it was edited and mixed under Mark Sandman’s supervision. He also laid out, and delivered, the low-fi artwork for the album.
While the tapes were mastered by Sandman, the original quality of the recording cannot be overcome. The drum sound echoes, and the baritone sax and bass are muddy. However, Sandman’s dry voice shines through fairly well. The total package is somewhat voyeuristic, as if Bootleg Detroit were meant to sound like putting an ear up against the outside of a theater. For those who never got the chance to see Morphine’s amazing live show, this is, sadly, as close as one can get.
Still, this is a good document of Morphine’s excellent live show and displays the energy and passion that they played with during the tour that supported their breakthrough album. On the whole the album stands as a loving tribute to an innovative band.
Line-up:
* Mark Sandman – 2 string slide bass, vocals, organ, tritar, guitar, piano
* Dana Colley – baritone sax, tenor sax, double sax, triangle
* Billy Conway – various percussion
Track List:
01. Intro
02. Come along
03. Dana Intro
04. Mary
05. Banter 1
06. Candy
07. Sheila
08. Billy Intro
09. Claire
10. My Brain
11. Banter 2
12. Head With Wings
13. Cure For Pain
14. You Speak My Language
15. Thursday
16. Banter 3
17. You Look Like Rain
18. Buena
Link in comments.
Gentle Giant – Acquiring the Taste (1971) (@256)
25 Feb 2007
(Review from progarchives.com)
Despite the rather Rolling Stones-ish album cover, ‘Acquiring The Taste’ saw Gentle Giant moving beyond anything familiar and conventional. After the first album’s heavier adventures (still a progressive album, and still one of their best), ‘Acquiring The Taste’ firmly established that Gentle Giant was off on a trip of rock experimentation that wouldn’t slow down until 1978 or so.
The wide variety of instrumentation, and they way the instruments are represented (through some really inventive studio work and a nice warm recording), immediately sets this album apart from its less layered predecessor. Adding to the wide spectrum of instrumentation, the variety of vocal approaches is also pleasing. The dark melancholy of “Black Cat” and the eerie “Edge Of Twilight” offer some of the album’s more esoteric journeys. But it’s “Pantagruel’s Nativity” and especially “The House, The Street, The Room” that offer quintessential Gentle Giant. Myriad mood shifts, a variety of vocal textures, inventive arrangements, virtuoso musicians playing to the strength of the song, polyrhythms, unpredictability…all the band’s treasured hallmarks are here. And the raw, guitar-centered aspects of their first album remain intact, as heard amidst “Wreck”, “Pantagruel’s Nativity” and “Plain Truth” (seriously ballsy, edgy violin by Ray Shulman on that last one!). Every song in its place, every one fascinating.
Still early in their development, Gentle Giant were already playing very mature, intelligent music. I even find it more enjoyable than some of their key mid-’70s albums. The songs flow smoother than some of their later compositions, and Derek Shulman’s voice doesn’t sound strained, as it often would on those later (still amazing) albums.
Line-up:
- Gary Green / 6 string guitar, 12 string guitar, 12 string wah-wah guitar, donkey’s jawbone, cat calls, voice
- Kerry Minnear / electric piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone, Moog, piano, celeste, clavichord, harpsichord, tympani, maracas, lead vocals
- Derek Shulman / alto sax, clavichord, cowbell, lead vocals
- Phil Shulman / alto & tenor sax, clarinet, trumpet, piano, claves, maracas, lead vocals
- Ray Shulman / bass, violin, viola, electric violin, Spanish guitar, tambourine, 12 string guitar, organ bass pedals, skulls, vocals
- Martin Smith / drums, tambourine, gongs, side drum
- Assisted by Paul Cosh (trumpet, organ) and Tony Visconti (recorder, bass drum, triangle)
Track List:
01. Pantagruel’s Nativity (6:50)
02. Edge Of Twilight (3:47)
03. The House, The Street, The Room (6:01)
04. Acquiring The Taste (1:36)
05. Wreck (4:36)
06. The Moon Is Down (4:45)
07. Black Cat (3:51)
08. Plain Truth (7:36)
Link in comments.
Ufo – Phenomenon (1974) (@256)
25 Feb 2007
(Review from allmusic.com, wikipedia, amazon.com)
In 1973, the band left the UK to play some dates in Germany. Their guitarist at the time, Bernie Marsden, forgot his passport and was unable to make the first gig. At the venue UFO spotted Michael playing a soundcheck with the Scorpions and managed to persuade him into playing that evening’s show. Despite a big time German-English language barrier, he joined the band full-time following those gigs.
Michael Schenker’s impact upon UFO’s career cannot be overestimated. Before the German teenager’s arrival (he was only 19 then), the British rockers’ early albums of half-baked space rock had been completely ignored everywhere but Japan. But with Schenker on board, the group’s sound would receive a well-needed attitude injection, veering toward the Anglo-hard rock style that would make them famous.
The new Schenker guitar style surrounded the whole record. “Oh My” opens the album with a jumping-hard-happy tune in the same style of other album tracks like “To Young To Know”. There are also ballads, such as “Time On My Hands”, “Crystal Light” or “Space Child”, with acoustic guitars, melodic bass and the baritone full passion of Mogg’s voice. A tribute to Willie Dixon (“Built For Comfort”) and a Schenker instrumental (“Lipstick Traces”) were also included to magnify an album that ends with “Queen Of The Deep”. Big hits, “Doctor Doctor” and “Rock Bottom” also comes from this album.
All in all, this is a very strong album. Not UFO’s best from the Schenker era, but damn good nonetheless.
Line-up:
* Phil Mogg – vocals
* Michael Schenker – guitar
* Pete Way – bass
* Andy Parker – drums
Track List:
01. Oh My
02. Crystal Light
03. Doctor Doctor
04. Space Child
05. Rock Bottom
06. Too Young To Know
07. Time On My Hands
08. Built For Comfort
09. Lipstick Traces
10. Queen Of The Deep
Link in comments.