tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16596021279243122632024-02-21T02:47:18.611-06:00Wo Fat LoreThis is where you'll find the mad ramblings of Wo Fat.Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-17822010696823981492011-01-14T16:58:00.000-06:002011-01-14T16:58:36.462-06:00Primevil "Smokin' Bats at Campton's"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4TqY0W9dtgBf1M4RNRCFOe3BD5FmQ6PicPwVVVYBc8mKNww-aKo8In84GfmwZMzl8ObQ8a3SH6dz1f1j1Bjr8gMQKfp1xBQUSRL7_wWqBVY0ug2tKMYqGq9K-DAu-ASCHWYjFfXq5Xd0/s1600/Primevil.jpg" /></div><br />
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So after writing the previous <b>Truth and Janey</b> review, I decided that I'd continue on this little tour of the "Old Heavy" of the American Midwest and talk a little about this very obscure little monster called Primevil. These Midwestern stoners hailed from Indiana and put out "Smokin' Bats at Campton's" in 1974 as a limited edition private pressing. I see that it has now been rereleased on Radio-Active records and is available on cd. Don't know much about these guys, but they definitely seemed to have a sense of humor. On the album cover underneath Primevil, it says "baddest band what am" and Dave Campton is credited with Vocals as well as Electric Chair.<br />
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Musically, after starting off like a late 60's acoustic hippy psyche trip, things start to rock with tight fully modern 70's riffing, sounding kind of southern rockish fueled with a couple shots of <b>Leafhound</b>. <br />
By the second song, "<i>Progress</i>", we're undeniably kickin' it 70's style with high octane bluesy grooves.<br />
Things lag a bit with "<i>Fantasies</i>" which is a lightweight instrumental ballad that I tend to skip over despite the nice guitar soloing. "<i>Pretty Woman</i>" ratchets things back up, sounding like a southern rock version of <b>Buffalo</b>, Campton's vocals reminding me especially of Dave Tice. In fact a lot of this is record brings to mind "<i>Only Want You For Your Body</i>"-era <b>Buffalo.</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>"Progress"</i></div><br />
The high and tight riffing continues for 3 of the 4 remaining songs. "<i>Tell Me If You Can</i>" rocking mightily into a stoned space out jam in the middle. "<i>Hey Lover</i>" and "<i>High Steppin' Stomper</i>" both showcasing the bands wacky sense of humor. The former sounding like a twisted atonal <b>Doobie Brothers</b> as done by <b>Buffalo</b> (it is actually a very cool tune, even though my description maybe doesn't make it sound like it). And "<i>High Steppin' Stomper</i>" utilizing actual stomping to help drive it through the verse. The album closes with "<i>Your Blues</i>," which is exactly what you might think it is - a straight ahead slow blues. This one's a little too far into "blues jam"-land for me. It's pretty tame and really is a bit pedestrian. If they had taken it up a notch, like <b>Taste</b>'s "<i>Catfish Blues</i>," then it would've been greatness. But alas...<br />
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In the end, you've got 6 of 8 solid rockers, with 4 of those fueled by genuine first class riffage. That's as good a percentage as you get on a lot of records from the 70's. <br />
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<b>Riff Density-</b> <b>7</b> <br />
<b>Riff Caliber-</b> <b>8</b> <br />
<b>Post Blues Factor</b>- <b>8</b> <br />
<b>Groove Factor-</b> <b>8</b> <br />
<b>Dig It-8</b><br />
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<b><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wofat&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000EJ9KT4&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe> </b>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-9223197644335467752011-01-14T12:30:00.002-06:002011-01-14T16:48:58.927-06:00Truth and Janey "Erupts" 1976<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuEmi3nEk5sQ0BOI97W531-v39hVqJ2xw0AVPJX4QrtDjGTRJL0Ao06sJN4uFL3mXVTJFryccnKyg7Qrp3xl_1ECratQHjCSyYYmmQcq3GncfZ7x6rapl2Gxril3jHjjDy8Otv9brp_I/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuEmi3nEk5sQ0BOI97W531-v39hVqJ2xw0AVPJX4QrtDjGTRJL0Ao06sJN4uFL3mXVTJFryccnKyg7Qrp3xl_1ECratQHjCSyYYmmQcq3GncfZ7x6rapl2Gxril3jHjjDy8Otv9brp_I/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This obscure smoldering slab of molten rock came hurtling through the 70's worm hole from the great American Midwest, Iowa, to be exact, thanks to the Rock and Roll archaeology of Monster Records, who released this live recording for the first time in 2004. <b>Truth and Janey</b>, one of a handful of heavy rock shoulda beens from the Midwest (<b>Granicus, Energy and Primevil</b> to name a few others), were a short lived power trio consisting of Billy Janey on guitar, Steve Bock, bass, and Denis Bunce on the drums. They released a couple of singles and a self-financed limited pressing of the full length LP studio recording "<b><i>No Rest For The Wicked</i></b>", all of which has since been rereleased on Monster Records. Erupts is a recording of a blistering live performance of the band recorded April 8, 1976 at the Col Ballroom in Davenport, Iowa.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5Rxew1R83wQ3gW9R0wKZRndyxIMuEkAlAw2_kxdI_6HMtfY1oCoLTzIBfgG8VXxRSrH7_v3OIBPRVwSy7Yc9ZVj-42x9B2GcLf_tVjqeHqzkVNXshRhNM2UB6ctAxnDMK0RAwCmqoW4/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5Rxew1R83wQ3gW9R0wKZRndyxIMuEkAlAw2_kxdI_6HMtfY1oCoLTzIBfgG8VXxRSrH7_v3OIBPRVwSy7Yc9ZVj-42x9B2GcLf_tVjqeHqzkVNXshRhNM2UB6ctAxnDMK0RAwCmqoW4/s1600/images-1.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sweet Firebird, Billy!<br />
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"Birth to the Heart" </div><br />
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</div>This is unapologetic, long-haired, Dashiki-wearin' rock and roll that is equal parts <b>Hendrix, Robin Trower and Cactus</b> mixed with a bit of Prog and a bit of 70's FM radio rock. Sonically, for a low budget live recording, this sounds pretty good. There are some spots where the guitar disappears, but overall, it's a very urgent and exciting recording with a slammin' overdriven Ampeg bass sound that powers this entire beast from below (I don't think he's actually playing through an Ampeg based on what I can see in pictures, but it's got that type of sound). Like <b>Grand Funk</b> but nastier. The guitar sounds are also beautifully fuzzy and filthy, with nary a clean guitar to be found. This record sounds like they were just absolutely cranked live. Must've been like that old Memorex (or was it Maxell) ad where your hair is blown back by the sheer weight of the sound if you were standing in front of the stage for this gig. Musically, the songs are quite complex structurally, with lots of changes and different sections. A lot of the grooves are of the funkier <b>Robin Trower</b> or <b>Energy/Tommy Bolin</b> vibe. Often the verse/chorus sections linger in the pop rock world and then they bust into some heavier instrumental sections. One of my favorite things about this record is the tendency on most songs to break down into a hard-as-nails vamp section, a la <b>ZZ Top</b>, for Billy Janey to unleash some guitar wizardry over. <br />
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The album starts with a dark, menacing guitar cadenza that breaks into the chugging, churning "<i>No Rest for the Wicked</i>." "<i>Birth to the Heart</i>," the second song is one of the best jams of the set. It's got a slow, funky groove, kind of <b>Energy/Trower</b>-ish that eventually leads to one of the aformentioned breakdown/vamp sections with some bitchin' soloing. This song, like many <b>Truth and Janey</b> songs, has extended sections where they're just grooving on a string of riffs. "<i>Universal Light</i>" fluctuates between heavy riffing and radio friendly "deep cuts" rock before devolving into an elephantine bass groove/guitar solo ending. This pretty much remains the modus operandi for the rest of the record - alternation of some pretty heavy riffing, FM rock verses/choruses, and monstrous vamps. So, basically, if you're not digging the poppy verses, hang with it, because the bottom'll drop out and you'll soon find yourself immersed in high voltage fuzzy goodness.<br />
The eight minute "<i>Tunnel of Tomorrow</i>" is another of my faves, detouring into <b>Budgie</b>-like greasy bass vamp-land a couple minutes in and staying there for a long time before breaking into a proto-NWOBHM gallop to finish it off. Also worthy of mention is the <b>ZZ Top</b> boogie of "<i>White Bread</i>", complete with, you guessed it, a <b>ZZ Top</b> style solo vamp. The fiery version the<b> Mississippi John Hurt</b> song "Ain't No Tellin" is the only cover song on the album. <br />
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The playing of all three guys is wicked and the communication between them perfect. Clearly they're used to lots of jamming together. There are loads of intense, fanatical <b>Cactus</b>-like moments throughout with powerful drumming and <b>Bogert-Geezer</b> bass gymnastics underneath. <br />
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There are some times where the vocals aren't quite making it, which must be forgiven in a live recording, but can be distracting from the greatness. Both Janey and Steve Bock handle lead vocal duties. I'm not sure who is singing what, but on some of the bluesier songs, the vocals are more of a <b>Leslie West</b> style and sound killer. The songs that more melodically complex are the songs that don't quite hang vocally with everything else that's going on. Small complaint though.<br />
If you dig the old heavy, then you will dig this.<br />
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<b>Riff Density-</b> <b>8</b> (could be a 10 except for the poppy sections of some songs) <br />
<b>Riff Caliber-</b> <b>8</b> <br />
<b>Post Blues Factor</b>- <b>10</b> <br />
<b>Groove Factor-</b> <b>10</b> <br />
<b>Dig It-8</b>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-58564792774782209122010-08-13T19:11:00.002-05:002011-01-14T17:05:15.148-06:00Tommy Bolin "Energy" and "Live at the Tulagi" 1972<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_EVhHdPRNWWwBVXyCFN-jU0_duj1nLsURqi3G_bPvrRzm3JQHoVdP-eZHfims6TaHKbR9yQrDxKfFiVM6OVRxp3aJ78RhU16A6lVjc2slFIVOQZ36BFsJfzS9EsPtD-pPoGGyVA_PVm8/s1600/tommy+bolin+energy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_EVhHdPRNWWwBVXyCFN-jU0_duj1nLsURqi3G_bPvrRzm3JQHoVdP-eZHfims6TaHKbR9yQrDxKfFiVM6OVRxp3aJ78RhU16A6lVjc2slFIVOQZ36BFsJfzS9EsPtD-pPoGGyVA_PVm8/s320/tommy+bolin+energy.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I got this as a 2 cd set a few years ago. I'm not sure that it's still available packaged this way because the releases put together by the Tommy Bolin Archives seem to be somewhat haphazard and constantly changing, but they make a great pair. This, in my opinion, is the golden period of Tommy Bolin. This is when he was playing with his Colorado-based band Energy; before he played with the James Gang, Deep Purple and Billy Cobham. Before his disappointing solo albums that I think were both tainted by the desires of major record label execs and the pall of heroin usage. Before he had the pressure of filling the shoes of Joe Walsh or Ritchie Blackmore - which was ridiculous that he was pressured into trying fill either of their shoes instead of just being Tommy Bolin. Playing with Energy was when Tommy seemed the most at ease, the most himself and the freest. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Energy was a smokin' band of great musicians that were not only not afraid to stretch out and jam, but that also had the chops to do it right. Energy was a band that incorporated many of the great things about 70's music: hard bluesy riffs, long extended instrumental jams, hammond organ, congas a la Santana, echoplex guitar freakouts, spaced out trippiness, etc. This is especially true with the live recordings, which is the majority of what's available from this band.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
"Heartlight"<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first cd of this 2 cd set is their only studio recording, which, I believe, was never actually released at the time. This album, on it's own, doesn't have the same rockin' factor that the <i>Live at Tulagi</i> cd has, simply because about half of it is either ballads or softer 70's pop rock, closer to what you would find on <i>Private Eyes</i> or <i>Teaser</i>. But the songs that rock, rock mightily. <i>Red Skies</i> starts things out with a soft spacey intro that breaks into a strutting, chugging rocker with some sweet Bolin licks. <i>Heartlight</i>, one of my favorites of <b>Bolin</b>, is a killer song that could have easily become one of THE classic 70's rock songs had it received any airplay at the time. It's a hard riffin' ride that reminds me a little of <b>Deep Purple</b>'s <i>Stormbringer. </i>Tommy should have resurrected this song for the <i>Come Taste the Band</i> album instead of <i>Lady Luck</i>. <b>Deep Purple</b> would've torn it up on this tune. The other 2 songs on the studio album of note are both instrumental jams. <i>Hoka Hey</i> is a hardcore fusion trip and <i>Naked Edg</i>e, one of my favorite Bolin tunes, is 14 minutes of <b>Pink Floydian</b> excellence similar to the funkier jam in the middle of <b>Pink Floyd</b>'s <i>Echoes</i>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Cd number 2, "Live at Tulagi" is where things get really interesting. Sadly, as is the case with most of the live recordings of Energy(which is all there is except disc one of this set), the mix is not great. Once you here the greatness contained herein, though, you will be willing to listen past the flaws of the recording. The majority of the songs on this cd are covers, but <b>Energy</b> chews 'em up and spits 'em out like they wrote the songs themselves. The originals are "Red Skies" and "Hoka Hey," which both appear in their studio versions on disc one. As for the rest, there are two pretty straight ahead blues tunes, one being maybe the most covered blues tune of the early 70's, "Rock me Baby," which has some burnin' Bolin soloing, and the other is <b>Energy</b>'s take on the <b>Free</b> song "I'm a Mover," which was on <b>Free</b>'s preeminent <i>Tons of Sobs</i> album. In some ways, I like Free's version a little better just because of some of the licks that are part of the arrangement, but Bolin's soloing is masterful on this, and the band is slamming. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now this is where my curiosity about this band is piqued. The name, <b>Energy</b>, supposedly was inspired by the album <i>Energy </i>that jazz flutist <b>Jeremy Steig</b> put out in 1970. This album is a funky, fusion album that floats around between 60's boogaloo <i>Sidewinder</i> funk, swampy bluesy grooves, future fusion, and hardcore jazz, all with <b>Steig</b>'s breathy flute over top. Playing electric piano(Rhodes or Wurlitzer) is <b>Jan Hammer</b>, of the mythic <b>Mahavishnu Orchestra</b>. This is a hard album to find, because I don't think it was ever reissued on cd, but I was thrilled to stumble across it at the used record store. Anyway, two of the songs that Energy plays are covers of songs from this album, <i>Give Me Some</i> and <i>Downstretch</i>. Both are deeply bluesy, groovin' riffs that could easily be pummeling,sunbaked desert rock jams. <b>Energy</b> definitely ramps up the rock factor on these tunes over the Steig/Hammer versions. <i>Give Me Some</i> is a slow, simmering, hard ass, Fender Rhodes-driven riff that just builds into a monster, complete with gong smashing. <i>Downstretch, </i>similarly<i>,</i> starts with a bluesy desert-style riff on the Fender Rhodes and proceeds to rock hugely, before tripping out into a spaced freakout jazz section in the middle. Now, back to why this intrigues me so: Clearly, <b>Tommy Bolin</b> and the rest of <b>Energy</b> really dug this obscure <b>Jeremy Steig</b> album, that included <b>Jan Hammer</b>. I wonder if, maybe, <b>Jeremy Steig</b> and <b>Jan Hammer</b> played a gig in Denver(which is where <b>Energy</b> was based) maybe with Energy, which turned them all on to each other. Did <b>Jan Hammer</b> hear <b>Bolin </b>play with<b> Energy</b>, which led to <b>Hammer</b>'s recommendation that <b>Bolin</b> play on <b>Billy Cobham</b>'s 1973 <i>Stratus</i> album, which <b>Hammer </b>played on as well? Also, even though the <b>Steig</b> <i>Energy</i> album <i>i</i>s very cool, it doesn't necessarily seem like something that would obviously be translatable into something much more rock oriented, like what<b> Bolin</b> and the rest of the band did, much less have the importance to <b>Energy </b>(the Band) as it did unless maybe they saw <b>Steig/Hammer/Gomez/Alias </b>et al play live. Who knows the real story, this is all conjecture on my part, but it does seem logical. At least to me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And, as long as fusion is on the brain, let's talk about another quasi-cover song on the album: <i>Ostinada</i>, which materializes after a 4 minute drum solo, which I tend to skip over(thankfully it's it's own track), is a slightly altered version of <i>Ostinato</i> which appeared on <b>Herbie Hancoc</b>k's 1970 album <i>Mwandishi</i>, which, interestingly had Ronnie Montrose laying down a very understated, yet funky wah wah guitar part. It is a repetitive (thus the title Ostinato) riff that serves as a foundation for soloing, in <b>Energy</b>'s case, a sweet organ solo from Tom Stephenson and of course some killer guitar from Bolin. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Side note: The Herbie Hancock albums from 1970-1972(<i>Mwandishi, Crossings</i>, and <i>Sextant</i>) that have what was known as the Mwandishi band are awe-inspiring, tripped out, space-fusion affairs that require more than a few listens to even allow an attempt a comprehension.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Rounding out the rest of the album is the 15 minute track that is simply titled <i>Guitar Solo</i>. This starts off with 5 minutes or so of Bolin by himself conjuring his 6 string wizardry, that then turns into a very pedestrian, run of the mill blues shuffle. There is some great soloing, but after the transcendence of the blues that has occurred earlier in the set, this seems somehow mundane.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, how to rate these 2 cd's. Hmm... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><b>Riff Density-</b> <b>5</b> (a bit low because of the not-so-rockin' tunes on the studio album) <br />
<b>Riff Caliber-</b> <b>9</b> (I made this pretty high because when the riffing is happening, it is happ-ah-ning)<br />
<b>Post Blues Factor</b>- <b>8</b> (this is an 8 because, aside from the outright blues songs, the other rockers are very forward thinking)<br />
<b>Groove Factor-</b> <b>10</b> <br />
<b>Dig It-10</b> (this, of course, is referring to the rockin' parts of the albums. I made a compilation of the best of these 2 cd's that is a 70+ minute, full cd of heavy duty rock and roll, which is how I listen to these albums)<br />
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</b>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-12526038434739194262010-08-09T16:14:00.004-05:002010-10-28T12:29:55.765-05:00The Fuzz Lab is open<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="http://wofat.net/fuzzlab.html"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ptT7MjdQ0_LsWspazL7xHab0BdfFiIAw__ak2l9zdUc_CEtkumUMmbSoa7AvWPWNa4TwhSkBaiUcZKDyJpY5fPfCXHxJHnIkAMMtVb2HZiRqaim6azMj2bBFSAgUU9Iak6mbz3BDR7k/s320/fuzz+lab+logo.gif" /></a><br />
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With my band Wo Fat, I design and hand screenprint all of the T Shirts that we sell. After learning how to do this and getting some experience with screen printing, I decided that I wanted to make some cool shirts of some of my favorite 70's band for myself. Then I thought, why not sell them. And thus, The Fuzz Lab. <br />
I'm starting out with only a handful of designs, but I'll be adding more soon. The shirts are all high quality 100% cotton, 6.1 ounce Hanes or Gildan shirts. <br />
Some possible future designs in development are Mahogany Rush, Leafhound and a really cool Pink Floyd design. In the meantime, go check 'em out: <a href="http://wofat.net/fuzzlab.html">The Fuzz Lab</a></div>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-83884432129185747022010-04-27T15:54:00.002-05:002010-04-28T11:22:42.734-05:00Hairy Chapter "Can't Get Through" 1971<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlIm91zLgmGdR81-cyjv2t8Xmc0lpnthTRQ3y6SHmZMYmLTd9QHN47TrCiVIqnalhyoYGn_E4gq3XnoP1geiLmLeKRVGXudD2i-IO88ThPeCwXk3qNFUiZRdmie88Mm3awu6P2gB_deg/s320/hc-cgt.jpg" /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> 1970 and early '71 was such an interesting time. Rock had found a heaviness never before heard, thanks to <b>Black Sabbath</b> and others, but things hadn't quite solidified yet. The music hadn't become formulaic, thus giving rise to unique and original interpretations of the new heaviness by bands like Sir Lord Baltimore and Germany's own <b>Hairy Chapter</b>. This is one of those albums that often pops up on the obscure 70's holy grails lists, as it should, but it certainly didn't turn out to be quite what I expected. I don't know what I expected - maybe some straight ahead bluesy riff rock, I don't know. This is definitely not that. <b>Hairy Chapter</b>'s "<i>Can't Get Through</i>," much like <a href="http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/2010/02/sir-lord-baltimore-kingdom-come-1970.html"><b>Sir Lord Baltimore</b>'s "<i>Kingdom Come</i></a>," is one maniacal, wheels-off affair. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"<i>Can't Get Through</i>," released in 1971 on the German Bacillus label, was the third album from the tripped out, acid-blown, neanderthal-intellectual quartet. I haven't heard the first, "<i>Electric Sounds For</i> <i>Dancing</i>," but the second, 1970's "Eyes," despite occasional glimpses of the alien beasts gestating within and waiting to rip out of their Hairy chests, is primarily bluesish 60's psych. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4jlkArVkcKzYLPN3lsKXw64VqpxXsX-wNnvqvf2EHFJz7c9Jwq93JY7O-MDK-krtcv1Hw-t0usFkD6nAuDBMZABFBGxzuu2xSUCMo95PgzP6_M8mmSTuzesWWH6cRCi6t5toGCddVT4/s1600/Hairy+Chapter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4jlkArVkcKzYLPN3lsKXw64VqpxXsX-wNnvqvf2EHFJz7c9Jwq93JY7O-MDK-krtcv1Hw-t0usFkD6nAuDBMZABFBGxzuu2xSUCMo95PgzP6_M8mmSTuzesWWH6cRCi6t5toGCddVT4/s320/Hairy+Chapter.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> November 1970: enter the great <b>Dieter Dierks</b> (producer of <b>Orange Peel</b>, <b>Ash Ra Tempel</b>, <b>Tangerine Dream</b> and who would later engineer the rise of the <b>Scorpions</b>). Producer and Vision Quest guide, <b>Dierks</b> simultaneously unleashed the psychedelic beast and reined it in enough to help <b>Hairy</b> <b>Chapter</b> realize the post modern rock and roll heights of madness that is "<i>Can't Get Through</i>." The mix is urgent, electric and feels live: guitars upfront, angry and heavy, overdriven bass, <b>Mitch Mitchell</b>-esque drumming and desperate, pained vocals. While it's not an album full of heavy guitar riffs, it does have it's share and it's full of out of control guitar solos and cool dark grooves with lots of unexpected changes of direction. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Comprising only 5 songs, "<i>There's a Kind of Nothing</i>" opens the album with some innocent enough bass/guitar vamping with a lighthearted<b> Allman Brothers</b>-ish guitar lick. The vamp continues, guitar fills becoming darker as Harry Unte attempts to belt out his vocals over the roiling rhythm section, all the while, the repetition building to some unknown climax that never comes. Then suddenly it stops, and we're at scarborough fair for a brief dreamy medieval interlude before being transported back to the menacing vamp. We realize very quickly that this is not conventional song composition. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The apex of the album is the next 2 songs, "Can't Get Through" and "It Must be an Officer's Daughter," both of which are epic sonic landscapes stretching over 8 minutes each. "Can't Get Through" starts with an intro that's like a cross between <b>Yes</b> and <b>Sabbath</b>. After a couple of hard rockin' verses, we're into a smoldering groove for a harmonica solo followed by Harry Titlbach's guitar workout over Rudolf Oldenburg's <b>Jack Bruce</b>-infused bass playing. Then suddenly a wacky slide guitar interlude comes out of know where, leading to a <b>Led Zeppelin</b>-ish riff that devolves into a slowly dissolving swing feel topped with dazed and confused guitar freakouts, Titlbach suffering from a momentary loss of sanity until finally it all crashes back to Earth with the <b>Zep</b> riff again. Like I said, not conventional songwriting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> "<i>It Must Be an Officer's Daughter</i>" continues on the road to the mountains of electrified post-blues madness with 8 more minutes of erratic groove changes, demented stalker lyrics like "I want to hold your luscious breasts in my hand" sung over a dark <b>Sabbath</b>-like riff, and a heaping helping of on-the-edge guitar solos over wicked drum/bass vamps. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> The only song that doesn't rock pretty hard is "As We Crosssed Over." For this one we've got acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, mariachi trumpet (yes you read that right) off in the distance and haunting, trippy choir vocals swirling around in the background. It sounds almost like Radiohead in an odd way. Strange, melancholy little tune here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> The album closes with "You've Got To Follow This Masquerade." The Cro-Magnon prog motif is revived for this one. Evil Sabbath riffs alternated with straighter Zeppelin and proggy sections that just come to an abrupt halt after 4 minutes or so, leaving you wandering what the...? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> This is a great record, but something that you definitely must be in the mood for. It's somewhat enigmatic and unapproachable and took me a couple of listens to really start digging it. Who knows what was going through these Krautrocker's off center brains to create a monster like this? Post modern, proto metal, bluesish, Cro-Magnon Man Prog rock.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Second Battle has reissued this album along with the second album "Eyes" on 1 cd.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wofat&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00005M6FU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And here's my rating:</div><b>Riff Density-</b> 7 <br />
<b>Riff Caliber-</b> 7<br />
<b>Post Blues Factor</b>- 10 <br />
<b>Groove Factor-</b> 10 <br />
<b>Dig It-</b>7(This number is a little low only because I don't end up listening to this very often even though I dig it very much)<br />
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</div>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-63531776326536470562010-02-17T09:48:00.017-06:002010-08-13T19:16:34.408-05:00Sir Lord Baltimore "Kingdom Come" 1970<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439242747821786210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6Dp7ny6SDbcur9fTFZyouUSPbyJBr5xk7J1E9oZM2T94OAIpY8qqc7KSt5XNG2hb4i-21J7FM55DtItGYlxEiyirim4-SIS-ZtX_W6iW-iCIXstqMjwFzHmiw2Ucpliz_Pnl9HKyEK8/s320/Kingdom+Come.jpg" style="display: block; height: 305px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
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<i>Kingdom Come,</i> Brooklyn-bred <b>Sir Lord Baltimore's</b> debut album from 1970, was one of the first heavy 70's obscurities that I found (and a sweet vinyl copy in an awesome gatefold at that) when I was first embarking on this quest for ancient riffage a number of years back, and it is a beast. It is a relic from the early freewheeling days of heavy rock, before the formula had been defined, refined and distilled. Home brewed white lightning. This record is a crazed, hungry, foaming-at-the-mouth Hell Hound, not satisfied with <b>Robert Johnson's</b> long ago ingested soul, but looking for new, fresh, unguarded souls to devour. So keep your hands inside the vehicle, lest you lose them. I take no responsibility for injuries incurred from listening to this album.<br />
It's heavy alright, but not in a <b>Black Sabbath </b>or<b> Bedemon</b> way. <i>Kingdom Come</i> is a chaotic, cyclonic, neanderthal-driven ride through a twisted amphetamine-fueled, post-blues, proto-punk, jungle of riffs. Even though<b> SLB </b>is often called the first American Heavy Metal band, musically, they lean more toward a very loose version <b>Cactus</b> with a dash of <b>Hendrix </b>and<b> The Stooges</b> thrown in than the monolithic, controlled heaviness of <b>Sabbath</b> and the metal that was yet to come. Interestingly, Randy Palmer of <b>Bedemon/Pentagram</b> said his favorite bands were <b>Black Sabbath</b> and <b>Sir Lord Baltimore</b> and in fact originally met Geoff O'Keefe (<b>Bedemon/Pentagram</b>) because Geoff bought the copy of <b>Sir Lord Baltimore</b>'s record that the record store was holding for Randy. I assume that it must have been the 2nd self titled <b>SLB</b> album.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIPPvPYlwqmr2smZzsGOTbJrUwBx6F8DpXLRwH1jyBbpDnkUVTB3g-c0kfzKMcKwCHitycwvBYBAcRs0VLBug_7CYWvUPGGwBB8vGA8GRjrepkGupofUNYthDJwnjdB3G1DN-_UebiBo/s1600-h/Sir+Lord+inside.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439260803594805842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIPPvPYlwqmr2smZzsGOTbJrUwBx6F8DpXLRwH1jyBbpDnkUVTB3g-c0kfzKMcKwCHitycwvBYBAcRs0VLBug_7CYWvUPGGwBB8vGA8GRjrepkGupofUNYthDJwnjdB3G1DN-_UebiBo/s320/Sir+Lord+inside.jpg" style="display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 318px;" /></a><br />
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Sir Lord Baltimore was John Garner-vox and drums, Louis Dambra - guitar, and Gary Justin - bass. <br />
The frantic, frenzied pummeling begins with a Lemmy-esque distorted bass that introduces us to "Master Heartache", which was masterfully covered by <b>Church of Misery</b> on their <i>Houses of the Unholy</i> album. This song sets the status quo for the entire album: a freight train of blues infused riffs melting into unhinged guitar fills and solos over delirious, unpredictable <b>Mitch Mitchell</b>-ish drumming with Garner's <b>Ronnie James Dio</b> a la Adam Sandler caterwauling vocals leading the charge through a seemingly random maze of a mix where guitars pan back and forth, materialize and disappear, and tempos ebb and flow like the tides. This lurching, swaying, runaway train is held on the tracks, just barely, by the gravity of the heavily distorted bass that chugs along underneath. "Master Heartache" has a classic loping riff for the verse that leads to a mean, mean breakdown part. "Hard Rain Fallin'" is a driving <b>Led Zep</b> machine with a cool twin lead guitar section. "Lady of Fire" starts with a sick proto stoner rock riff. The verse groove is a little weak, but the rest of the tune still rocks hard. I think <b>Deep Purple</b> lifted part of this tune for "Woman From Tokyo<i>." </i>You'll know exactly what I mean when you hear it. <br />
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The only time the pace drops below berserk is the 4th song, "Lake Isle of Innersfree<i>,"</i> which is coincidentally(or not) the only song not penned by Dambra, but instead foisted upon them by producers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos in there misguided attempt to reach a wider audience.(?) It is a rather weak harpsichord driven Renaissance Fair song that should be immediately skipped and promptly forgotten.<br />
Then it's pedal to the metal again with "Pumped Up<i>." </i>More howling vocals and angry blues riffing that lead to a nasty dual guitar lick and a crazed guitar solo. The brakes are applied for the proto metal title track, "Kingdom Come<i>."</i> This song is the most restrained (aside from the ridiculous Renny fair "Innisfree"), or maybe I should say controlled, and at the same time, maybe the most metal(ish) song on the album, looking to the future, with Garner sounding more <b>Ian Gillan/Dio</b>-like (and less like a possessed Adam Sandler)with a big late 70's metal vibrato and medieval tinged lyrics. The water has cooled slightly to a simmer here, but, fret not, it will soon be back to a rolling boil. <br />
"I Got a Woman" is a backwards looking, 60's London Blues Explosion kind of tune, with tinges of 60's psych. A bit dated, but still cool. We're back on track (or is it off the rails) with "Hell Hound"<i>:</i> savage guitar soloing/riffing over Garner's undulating drumming. Enter "Helium Head"<i> (</i>what a cool title<i>); </i>wicked flowing riffage and an awesome vamp at the end that should have gone on much longer -Fist smacks hand- "Damn that Mike Appel and his radio single aesthetic!" The album ends with more of the same on the uptempo "Ain't Got Hung on You<i>."</i><br />
This album, really, is somewhat unapproachable. It's almost like you need sunglasses to tone down the glare so you can really see what's going on through all of the chaos and tumult. The playing is pretty loose and the tempos fluctuate, but look deeper into the pandemonium and you'll see the wickedly cool riffs and the wheels off, hair-on-fire greatness of this album. When it's all said and done, you feel windblown and worn. Like you drove 100 miles in a convertible with the top down. Garner, Dambra and Justin are just going for it, full on; the only way they know how: over the top and with reckless abandon, the imperfections actually adding to the overall devastating effect of this record. There's loads of punk rock attitude coupled with primo pentatonic riffs and songs with lots of different sections and motif changes. Nine out of ten songs unapologetically bringing the Rock. Not many other albums from 1970 can say that. <br />
I have to also say that I dig the spooky Flying Dutchman front cover, the groovy font used for <b>Sir Lord Baltimore</b>, and the cool modernist painting on the inside cover (see the picture above).<br />
My rating is: <br />
<b>Riff Density</b> 8 <br />
<b>Riff Caliber</b> 9<br />
<b>Post Blues Factor</b> 8 <br />
<b>Groove Factor</b> 10 <br />
<b>Dig It</b> 8 (used to be lower, but I continue to appreciate it more and more)Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-66976651155565635122009-11-02T22:25:00.008-06:002010-05-11T15:17:11.874-05:00Bedemon "Child of Darkness" 1973-79<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9nGt2bJEK4GoH57Lh-fG-PdUVyJkcd38xQyjx311TMR7oV3b4wRAIsOsTwC9XvZmzqe7koXvdFInRfyIt1MUKkw8o-Pu1S0hebmioqMYh7ppu-UosbThsWJaSBLyDsdzcvqkni5GXj0/s1600-h/i23948l1y2q.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399729119003489746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9nGt2bJEK4GoH57Lh-fG-PdUVyJkcd38xQyjx311TMR7oV3b4wRAIsOsTwC9XvZmzqe7koXvdFInRfyIt1MUKkw8o-Pu1S0hebmioqMYh7ppu-UosbThsWJaSBLyDsdzcvqkni5GXj0/s320/i23948l1y2q.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 197px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<div>Aah, the fabled <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span>. This album, released by Black Widow Records of Italy with a massive booklet of great liner notes, is a compilation of recordings made in the 70's by the "band" <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span> was not an actual gigging, playing band, but was the instrument used by Pentagram guitarista Randy Palmer to document some of his musical ideas. It's pretty amazing really that these private, self-made recordings firstly, have become the stuff of myth and legend that they are, and secondly, that they, in many ways, actually do live up to the hype. </div><div><br />
The back story: Prior to joining the equally fabled <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span>, Randy Palmer enlisted his friend and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span> drummer Geof O'Keefe, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span> vocalist Bobby Liebling, and high school friend Mike Matthews (bass) to help him record some of his musical ideas. These recordings were made using a Roberts 771X 1/4" reel-to-reel tape deck in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span>'s rehearsal space and Randy's living room. The sonic quality is pretty rough and varies wildly, but considering they had 2 tracks to work with and were bouncing tracks(and therefore also mixing on the fly as they went) back and forth to add extra tracks Sgt Pepper style, it turned out fairly well. In fact, on some songs it enhances the grittiness and hardcore nature of the music. </div><div>Randy Palmer reconnected with Mike and Geof and in 2001 work was underway on new <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span> material, but sadly, Randy Palmer was killed in 2002 from injuries sustained in a traffic accident.<br />
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</div><div></div><div>The music:</div><div>It took me a few a listens to really start digging this album, but now I'm sold on it. For the most part, <b>Bedemon</b> is unapologetically heavy, dark and doomy, sounding like <b>St Vitus</b> or even the <b>Blood Farmers</b> at times, but with Bobby Liebling from <b>Pentagram</b> singing. I would say it's heavier and more modern metal than most of the <b>Pentagram</b> of the same time period. The guitar sounds are heavier (interestingly, an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Electro Harmonix Mike Matthews Freedom Amp </span>was used for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span> recordings; don't know what was used for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span>) and the riffage/songs are heavier. Some of the contemporary <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span> sounds stuck in the 60's at times as far as the songwriting goes. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span> guitar solos, contributed by Randy Palmer, Geof O'Keefe and Mike Matthews are all very cool, and O'Keefe's drumming is slamming.<br />
One of the only problems I have with this album is Bobby Liebling's performance. His delivery is pretty flat (I'm not referring to pitch, but energy). He kind of sounds like <b>Iggy Pop</b> (don't get me wrong, I love Iggy) combined with a heroin-infused <b>Velvet Underground Lou Reed</b>. He sounds much better on <b>Pentagram</b>'s <i>First Daze Here</i>, so I'm not sure if he just didn't give it his all because it wasn't his project or what, but I think this is partly why it took me a while to get into the record. Get past the lackluster Liebling and you've got some of the heaviest rock of the early 70's. </div><div></div><div>The albums kicks you in the gut right from the start, the first three songs, <i>Child of Darkness, Enslaver of Humanity, </i>and<i> Frozen Fear</i> being devastating, plodding, doomy behemoths driven by mammoth Sabbathathian tritone blues riffs and sweet Iommi-esque soloing. Opener <span style="font-style: italic;">Child of Darkness</span> takes us down creepy unmarked riff-roads later mapped out by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blood Farmers</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Electric Wizard</span>, just not quite as psychedelic. I was initially not so into <span style="font-style: italic;">Frozen Fear</span> because the vocal melody is lifted exactly from Black Sabbath (I can't for the life of me think of which song right now - help me out here...), but everything else about the song kills, so who cares. Besides, how many great blues songs utilize the same melody with different lyrics? A wicked howling banshee feedback guitar introduces <span style="font-style: italic;">Enslaver of Humanity</span> which lumbers along big and heavy, Vitus style. <span style="font-style: italic;">One Way Road</span> is a bit more uptempo, but only slightly, feeling a bit like a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Buffalo</span> jam. The ham-fisted riffing and bludgeoning guitar solos continue. <span style="font-style: italic;">Serpent Venom</span> starts out promising, but then kind of lags a bit. The riffage here doesn't carry the same weight as the previous 4 tunes. Still not bad though. There is a cool Dave Chandler-ish guitar solo on this one - again with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">St. Vitus</span> comparisons.<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Last Call</span>, a melancholy ballad, is followed by <span style="font-style: italic;">Drive Me to the Grave</span>, which sounds like a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sabbath</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Vol. 4</span> era song. <span style="font-style: italic;">Into the Grave</span> is another minor ballad, but it's got a better groove than <span style="font-style: italic;">Last Call</span> and some nice soloing. Unfortunately one track of lead guitar is buried in the mix. <span style="font-style: italic;">Skinned</span>, which is introduced with a blood curdling scream, is an uptempo rocker which, at times, makes me think of early <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fu Manchu</span>.?. Hmm. <span style="font-style: italic;">Touch the Sky</span> is another <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Vol. 4</span> trip.<br />
Tracks 1-12 were all from '73-74, while the three songs that close the album are from '79, after Palmer's tenure with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span> and definitely have a different feel to them.<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Time Bomb</span> is a total <span style="font-weight: bold;">Iggy and the Stooges <span style="font-style: italic;">Raw Power</span></span> vibe. <span style="font-style: italic;">Nighttime Killers</span> has a NWOBHM gallop to it with a proggy solo section. <span style="font-style: italic;">Axe to Grind</span> is actually Geof O'Keefe's composition. It is a cool prog-metal instrumental that very much sounds like 1979 with twin harmony guitar melodies. Very different from the earlier <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bedemon</span>, but a rockin' jam nonetheless with some smokin' leads.<br />
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The album kind of falls into three sections. The first 1/3 is the heaviest and doomiest with the best riffage, and the most <span style="font-weight: bold;">St Vitus</span>-ish. The middle 1/3 kind of sags a little, but still has rockin' moments. The last 1/3 picks up the pace again, but in a less doomy, more late 70's metal kind of way. Like I said earlier, I dig it more than <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pentagram</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">First Daze Here</span>, and again, if Liebling would've delivered more passionate performances, it would have sent this album into the territory of greatness.<br />
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My rating is:<br />
<b>Riff Density 9</b><br />
<b>Riff Caliber 9 </b><br />
<b>Post Blues Factor 10</b><br />
<b>Groove Factor 8</b><br />
<b>Dig It 8</b></div><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wofat&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000JFY0V6&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
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</div>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-70466401040891462292009-09-02T16:35:00.004-05:002009-09-02T17:26:08.919-05:00Comment on DownloadingHmm... So after receiving a comment on one of my reviews asking where the link to the music is, I feel the need to say a few things here.<br /> I personally do not have a big problem with people downloading music. We've all done it. We've all burned cdr copies of cd's from our friends. Those of us that are old enough have made cassette copies of albums-I've still got boxes full of 'em. That being said, I did not create this blog to be a place to download other peoples' albums. My intention was to make this a place to express my opinions about some somewhat obscure albums and hopefully give you another perspective about them and let you decide for yourself whether you want to seek them out or not. I started creating the <span style="font-style: italic;">Transmissions From Beyond</span> podcasts to allow you to hear some songs off of the albums discussed to give you even more information. My hope is that if you dig something, you will search it out and buy it, but at the very least, I want people to listen to and discover more music that maybe they wouldn't have found otherwise.<br /> This blog is affiliated with the band Wo Fat. We have 2 albums for sale in lots of different places. It cost us a lot of money to make those records: It costs money to record. It costs money to have artwork designed. It costs money to press cd's. It costs a lot more money to press vinyl. It costs money to print inserts and sleeves. It costs money to make T shirts. And on and on... Making music and making it available to people is not free, especially if you don't want it done in a half-assed manner. If you like something, you should try and support it as best you can. If you are reading this blog, most musicians that you probably dig and most of the independent record labels that deal with this type of music, do not have nor do they make a lot of money. This is a labor of love. It's about the music. Why would you want to screw over something that you like? You're not "stickin' it to the man" by downloading a Nebula album. Maybe you are if it's T Pain or TI or some such major label foolishness. But the underground needs support. And supporting underground music IS sticking it to the man! Solid.<br /> Some sites that have a lot of stuff available for download ask that you share as much as you download or that you make a certain amount of posts in order to download so that you are contributing to the "community." I propose that instead of contributing in that way, that you buy as much as you download. Give back to the people that are entertaining you and rocking your world.<br />I should also say that I know of a number of sites where you can download our albums for free and ultimately, I'm ok with that. I'd rather that you buy it from us of course, but in the end, I want people listening to it and grooving on it more than I want to get paid for it. Like I said, it's all about the music, man.<br />Just some things to think about as you surf the void.<br /><br /><br />Support underground music.<br />Spread the Fuzz.<br />Long live Analog Rock and Roll!Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-43135840081854626722009-08-06T15:31:00.006-05:002009-08-06T16:30:00.019-05:00Transmissions From Beyond #2Hee is the second episode of <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Transmissions From Beyond</span>, which focuses on the band <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cactus. </span> Check out the reviews of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cactus</span>' <a href="http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/2009/02/cactus-cactus-1970.html">self titled debut </a>album and <a href="http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/2009/06/cactus-one-way-or-another-1971.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">One Way or Another</span></a> for more info on the band.<br />In order to listen to this podcast, put the following URL into itunes or whatever you choose to listen to podcasts with and prepare to rock.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Transmissions From Beyond </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">URL: </span><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default<br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp80r6YyYnSMl728Xzo4zK8MXv8dYoAnu8MnbywWJyuchYBVagxCazOoFF4ucyYEM1nBXiNHksXsZr3b2V4y9dq0wdjNFuOMhotxrZ1SWq9uNKtnyJZucUt8TbfZCwWoPFzOLr6wudIpo/s1600-h/Cactus+promo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp80r6YyYnSMl728Xzo4zK8MXv8dYoAnu8MnbywWJyuchYBVagxCazOoFF4ucyYEM1nBXiNHksXsZr3b2V4y9dq0wdjNFuOMhotxrZ1SWq9uNKtnyJZucUt8TbfZCwWoPFzOLr6wudIpo/s320/Cactus+promo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366961296643680930" border="0" /></a>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-58641655360673257592009-06-02T16:28:00.001-05:002011-01-14T17:14:11.162-06:00Cactus "One Way or Another" 1971<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb7o2iRvtLtrKtpl9XRGubbVneNPJVENyxPlXlcfCg0ki1frFFdFanCdzYuHC1XAdx55X9yv2Y7NP6bgJZPcYYjBBnYOfxM5-vX0Q64OvD58YvuRXsqspRHSYGwaLv_R3zBHUK74ZkfzM/s1600-h/cactus.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342848847459445842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb7o2iRvtLtrKtpl9XRGubbVneNPJVENyxPlXlcfCg0ki1frFFdFanCdzYuHC1XAdx55X9yv2Y7NP6bgJZPcYYjBBnYOfxM5-vX0Q64OvD58YvuRXsqspRHSYGwaLv_R3zBHUK74ZkfzM/s320/cactus.jpg" style="display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><i> One Way or Another</i> is <b>Cactus'</b> second album, coming right on the heels of their <a href="http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/2009/02/cactus-cactus-1970.html">debut</a>(check out the review of this album for more info). It is still drenched in the blues, but with less harmonica and more riffs. The album opens with a slow, tough as nails version of Little Richards <i>Long Tall Sally </i>built on a hard groovin' guitar riff with some burnin' McCarty wah wah soloing. <i>Rockout, Whatever You Feel Like </i>starts out sounding like it's gonna be a killer, but then turns out to be a bit of a lightweight happy Status Quo-ish tune. Eh... I'm a little iffy on that one. It does have a kind of cool twin lead thing, but still...<br />
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"One Way Or Another"</i><br />
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Anyway, next up is <i>Rock and Roll Children</i>, which is a midtempo backbeat blues for the verses that, as is often the case with Cactus, turns into a blazing guitar/bass drum freakout before returning to the backbeat groove. Lots of great high harmony vocals on this album, by the way.<br />
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This brings us to the aptly titled <i>Big Mama Boogie, pt 1 & 2</i> . It starts of with a few minutes of groovy acoustic guitar/honkin' harmonica blues with some great vocals from Rusty. Just when you think it's over part 2 walks up and punches you in the gut with a heavy, hard-ass, <i>Let There Be Rock-</i>esque groove.<br />
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Side 2 opens with the cool, understated, tremolo guitar-driven <i>Feel So Bad</i>. Great tune with a cool hypnotic groove. Nice wah guitar solo. This simmering understatement is a bit of a departure for <b>Cactus</b>, but it works well. The next tune, <i>Song for Aries</i> is also somewhat of a departure. It is one of those melancholy minor key instrumentals so popular in the 70's that we all love that starts out with acoustic guitar building to a smoldering electric guitar solo.<br />
<i>Hometown Bust</i><b>,</b> a lament about drug busts is a heavy lumbering blues that alternates between subdued clean guitar/harmonica and molten overdriven Big Muffy sustain.<br />
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The record closes with what is the ultimate <b>Cactus</b> song - <i>One Way or Another.</i> This is a riff rock masterpiece that ranks up there with the most rocking songs of the 70's. Built on a nasty guitar riff, they have fully transcended the basic blues structure and moved into fully modern post blues 70's rock. After a couple of verse/choruses there's a cool breakdown that builds into a slamming guitar solo freakout section undergirded by Bogert's snarling bass and Appice's assault and battery(batterie). Pure and unadulterated, this is what Rock and Roll is about.<br />
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Can you tell I really dig this song?<br />
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Anyway, like their debut, the album is not packed front to back with giant riffage, but more than half the album is hard rockin' in one way or another ;-)<br />
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<b>Riff Density 7 </b><br />
<b>Riff Caliber 10 </b><br />
<b>Post Blues Factor 6</b><br />
<b>Groove Factor 10 </b><br />
<b>Dig It 8</b>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-40762009869154160482009-05-26T22:18:00.000-05:002009-06-03T13:05:01.879-05:00Transmissions From Beyond #1This Podcast is the first episode of <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Transmissions From Beyond</span>. In order to listen to this podcast, put the following URL into itunes or whatever you choose to listen to podcasts with and prepare to rock. There will be more episodes to come.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Transmissions From Beyond </span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">URL: </span><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default</span></strong><br /><br />Playlist:<br />Deep Purple - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">The Dealer</span><br />Stray Dog - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Crazy</span><br />Randy Holden - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Blue My Mind</span><br />Leaf Hound - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Freelance Fiend</span><br />Point Blank - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Free Man</span><br />Point Blank - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Uncle Ned</span><br />Boomerang - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Juke It</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-53593258121595175242009-02-25T12:42:00.000-06:002009-06-02T16:26:53.751-05:00Cactus "Cactus" 1970<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SWiO7wQXdBXEbZxtpTaxnodBapkW2w3fC10pM0GgR9o7yLvjUq32THAMU_C98-GCY7z4JAIB6AhsRJfBJQ35VUuiFxvR4YsvTLiU6ncBEGkaZiL9V0_yRajBRC-8VWLwsAv0T2v-SX0/s1600-h/cactus+st.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306810083926790226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SWiO7wQXdBXEbZxtpTaxnodBapkW2w3fC10pM0GgR9o7yLvjUq32THAMU_C98-GCY7z4JAIB6AhsRJfBJQ35VUuiFxvR4YsvTLiU6ncBEGkaZiL9V0_yRajBRC-8VWLwsAv0T2v-SX0/s320/cactus+st.jpg" /></a>The legendary Cactus. Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice from <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Vanilla Fudge</span>, Jim McCarty from the <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Detroit Wheels</span>, and Rusty Day who sang in the <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Amboy Dukes</span>. This much hyped band deserves a whole lot of that hype, but I wanted to give my own reviews of Cactus' albums so that the uninitiated listener doesn't pick this up expecting wall-to-wall heavy <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sabbath</span> style riffage, only to be disappointed and give up on them altogether.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Cactus</span> was formed by Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice after leaving <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Vanilla Fudge</span> (check out the <a href="http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/2009/01/boomerang-1971.html"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Boomerang</span></a> review to see what became of another <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Fudge</span> member). The plan was to have <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Jeff Beck</span> play guitar with <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Cactus</span>, but a car crash intervened, sidelining Beck and opening a slot for Jim McCarty (Beck did hook up with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice in 1973 after the demise of <strong>Cactus</strong> to record <strong>Beck, Bogert & Appice, </strong>which among other gems has an insanely cool version of <em>Superstition- </em>which, btw, I heard Jeff Beck had a hand in writing with Stevie Wonder-if anyone knows the real story there let me know).<br /><br /><strong>Cactus</strong>' self titled debut was released in 1970 and was a loud and boisterous American response to the heaviness that had come across the pond from <strong>Sabbath's</strong> first 2, <strong>Zep's</strong> first 2, <strong>Deep Purple</strong> <em>In Rock</em>, etc. This album, while lacking in the crushing riffage and gothic darkness of <strong>Sabbath, </strong>is a bold and vital piece of the emerging hard rock and metal to come. Most of the songs are heavy electrified boogie, but with Marshalls cranked to 11 and turbocharged beyond the confines of rhythm and blues. <strong></strong>Starting out with a blazing, careening take on <em>Parchman</em> <em>Farm</em> (which many will remember was fuzzified not so long prior by the acid drenched Blue Cheer) we see immediately where this ride is headed; we see what, ultimately, is my favorite thing about <strong>Cactus</strong>: the balls-to-the-wall, no turning back, always on the edge of destruction approach. These guys are doing 120 mph in their '68 Shelby Mustang,headed for a cliff, Rusty's riding on the hood, Carmine's hangin' out the window, the wheels are starting to come off, and they don't care! Floor it, man!<br /><br />After <em>Parchman Farm</em> they do slow it down though with <em>My Lady From South of Detroit</em> , which is an acoustic ballad. Things start to pick up again with the twangy somewhat goofy blues of <em>Bro. Bill.</em> They get back up to cruising speed with the Willie Dixon tune <em>You Can't Judge a Book.</em> It's a little deceptive in the beginning with the acoustic guitar on the first verse and lots of harmonica, but it is soon full on vintage Cactus - blistering Jim McCarty guitar over the maelstrom that swirls underneath created by Bogert and Appice. <em>Let Me Swim</em> is a boogie rocker with a good share of riffage and a smokin' vamp at the end. <em>Oleo</em> is another heavy boogie with a bit too much white boy harmonica, but rocking hard enough to make it not matter. <em>Feel So Good</em> is maybe the most full on riff-based and forward thinking rock song on the album, despite the obligatory 70's drum solo. <em>No Need to Worry</em> is a bit of a disappointment for me. It's a straightforward slow blues, which has the potential for greatness(think of <strong>Johnny Winter's</strong> <em>Tribute to Muddy</em> or <strong>Taste's</strong> <em>Catfish Blues or</em> <strong>Hendrix</strong><em> Hear My Train a Comin'),</em> but this stays just that, a slow blues and fails to rise above that, unlike the other examples just mentioned. Don't get me wrong, it is still a well done blues song, but it doesn't make the cut when I'm making a compilation of <strong>Cactus</strong> tunes.<br /><br />Even though it feels like these guys were simply out of control, hard partying, acid heads, this is the first formative statement from a first rate band of great musicians that knew how to push it to the very edge and still keep retain control like few others could. The next two albums, <em>One Way or Another</em> and <em>Restrictions</em> were still heavy on the blues, but with more riffing mixed into the fray.<br /><br /><strong>Riff Density 6 </strong><br /><strong>Riff Caliber 8 </strong><br /><strong>Post Blues Factor 4 </strong><br /><strong>Groove Factor 10</strong><br /><strong>Dig It 7</strong>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-49907266127745535192009-02-09T12:56:00.000-06:002009-02-09T13:09:02.639-06:00Randy Holden "Population II" 1970<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuDiVAyZn6vTn6LG06J4skHKrKRyfwJPHXs8Kalh-crKiGIuTRTRRsyGSgThv55iuyCyPD8TOfjMpTgGTogxahIn-rD43eKbfKSOI1XK-GeQ6AONlset_bIalOM7V8CXjLJ-6BbWsmjY/s1600-h/Population+II.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuDiVAyZn6vTn6LG06J4skHKrKRyfwJPHXs8Kalh-crKiGIuTRTRRsyGSgThv55iuyCyPD8TOfjMpTgGTogxahIn-rD43eKbfKSOI1XK-GeQ6AONlset_bIalOM7V8CXjLJ-6BbWsmjY/s320/Population+II.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300876174321210354" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Randy Holden is one of the great unsung guitar heroes of Rock. A true devotee of the guitar, to him it was all about the music. He spent the first part of the 60's playing in surf band <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fender IV</span> and 60's psychedelic bands <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sons of Adam</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Other Half</span>. His most high profile gig was replacing Leigh Stephens on guitar in the legendary <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Cheer</span>. He played with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Cheer</span> for roughly a year, although he only recorded on half of their severely disappointing 3rd album <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"New! Improved! Blue Cheer"</span> before quitting the band. It seems he decided to leave the band partly because he was getting screwed by the label and/or management and partly because the rest of the band was more interested in serious partying than creating music together. The <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"New! Improved!"</span> album clearly shows a lack of the musical fire and direction that made the first to albums, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Vincebus Eruptum</span> and <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Outsideinside</span>, rock and roll classics. The lone exception being Randy's composition <span style="font-style: italic;">Fruit and Icebergs</span> , which he re-did on <span style="font-style: italic;">Population II</span> to devastating effect.<br />Leaving Blue Cheer in 1969, Randy ventured out on his own. Armed with 20 new Sunn amps and drummer Chris Lockheed, he rented an opera house and recorded the underground heavy rock classic <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Population II</span>. This is a dark, heavy, brooding record that was ahead of it's time conceptually. This is proto doom metal with lots of overdubbed guitar parts. Mostly slow Sabbathy dark rock full of Randy's tasteful, gutsy yet restrained lead guitar. This record is all about the guitar. The guitars are up front in the mix over the drums and the vocals, but not so much that it ruins the record. Randy's got a great tough mid-rangey tone with his wall of Sunn amps and the mix is kind of cool because it feels like you're straining to hear his tortured vocals over the Guitar-zilla that is destroying history right in front of us. In fact the first song is entitled, what else but <span style="font-style: italic;">Guitar Song</span>. Kicking the record off with a series of slow stoned guitar breaks, the first lyrics we hear are "I love the sound of a guitar playin'." Right on Randy! This song sets the tone for the album: Randy's vaguely Hendrix-like half spoken vocals, heavy duty rhythm guitar riffage and swaggering, wobbly, sustain-to-infinty soloing. The vocals definitely just serve as an excuse for rocking. The second song is the aformentioned "Fruit and Icebergs", an evil Sabbathy tritone-blues dirge complete with a spacey theremin-esque whammy bar guitar. Sandwiched between Fruit and Icebergs Parts 1 and 2 is <span style="font-style: italic;">Between Time</span> which is probably the most accessible song on the record. It's a straight ahead rocker that picks up the pace a little.... just a little. It's only flaw is that it's way too short. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nebula</span> did a genius cover of this song on their <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">To the Center</span> album. Then the <span style="font-style: italic;">Fruit and Icebergs</span> monster from space is back for a brief violent reprise that leads us to the 2 final and best songs of the whole trip. <span style="font-style: italic;">Blue My Mind</span> fades in with guitar chaos that you later find out was lifted from the end of the song and then goes into some serious lower mid tempo rock. Killer arena sized guitar fills and soloing on this one with the usual minimal lyrical content, build up to the chaotic multiple lead guitar ending. The album closer, <span style="font-style: italic;">Keeper of My Flame</span>, has probably the fastest tempo of the whole album (which still is just a driving medium tempo). Tribal tom tom/bluesy war cry-guitar, heavy riffing verse and chorus lead up to a breakdown where the guitar solo starts. Just when it's about to really start rocking everything stops...another tribal war cry, then the kicking of the ass by guitar ensues over a <span style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Brave Ulysses</span> groove that goes on for several minutes. Then when you think it's over out comes a half time, yes half time, version of the verse riff for more Sunn pyrotechnics. Sadly, the record label at the time failed to grasp the vision of the record and refused to release it. Then Randy's equipment manager joined in the screwing and sold off his gear and left Randy guitarless and bankrupt. For the romantic rock and roll idealist that he was, this was too much and he disappeared from the music world until the 90's. Somehow bootleg copies of the album were released, which is how it's underground cult status has spread. Hopefully at this point Randy is getting his due. I've heard people say they don't like this album because it's "too simple" or boring. Maybe to some. The riffs are not really complex and the tempos are all on the slow side, so it can seem kind of rudimentary, but there is no denying the high rocking factor here. The riffs kill (and are much heavier and forward-thinking than a lot of other stuff in 1969) and the soloing, while not full of lightning fast runs, is gutsy, well-hung arena rock guitar playing full of genius licks that you wish you had thought of. Compare this with <span style="font-style: italic;">Fruit and Icebergs </span>from <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"New!Improved!"</span> and you see that this is miles ahead. Much heavier guitar sound, more mature playing. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Population II</span> is firmly planted in the 70's, leaving behind the 60's, unafraid to be heavy throughout; without the need to try and make something work in the pop world. No need for the lightweight major key chorus or song. This probably why the record company shelved it. Where's the single? In an interview with Randy Holden that I read, he said in 1990 he listened to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Population II</span> for the first time since doing it and said "It's almost like quicksand, in a sense. It pulls you into it....but it's difficult to get back out." So true. It's great intriguing piece of work that really is unlike anything else. It's a tough album to find but well worth it. Check out a song at the Randy Holden myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/randyholdenpopulation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 8</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 8<br />Post Blues Factor 10<br />Groove Factor 7<br />Dig It 8</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-20774247122247284962009-01-27T15:17:00.000-06:002009-01-27T16:57:50.777-06:00Point Blank "Second Season" 1977<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevaifSM_IKv2iVl5Ls3elG_CD-IRnv99R_oEC5ZA7oLOS7ksqNfWYaMx5hZUTcR3Ig-kYdFHa43zWgQY9QTzinqSRziz_1FxNeIH6COZ8zTXMZwkgNDkPB-K-jH70tnSG1PQu0Sp7H6w/s1600-h/second+season_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevaifSM_IKv2iVl5Ls3elG_CD-IRnv99R_oEC5ZA7oLOS7ksqNfWYaMx5hZUTcR3Ig-kYdFHa43zWgQY9QTzinqSRziz_1FxNeIH6COZ8zTXMZwkgNDkPB-K-jH70tnSG1PQu0Sp7H6w/s320/second+season_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296094920847807874" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is an addendum to the review of the Point Blank self titled first album. <span style="font-style: italic;">Second Season</span> is just another heapin' helping of hearty down home heavy bluesified southern rock , still very much in the ZZ Top vein. An edgier, brighter mix for this one, but otherwise the winning formula remains the same.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Uncle Ned, Tatooed Lady, </span>and<span style="font-style: italic;"> Nasty Notions</span> are the hardest rockers(solidly in the territory of the heaviest ZZ Top) of the bunch and they probably should have opened the album with them. These 3 are packed with solid riffage from front to back. <span style="font-style: italic;">Uncle Ned</span> breaks into a wicked double time section with a mean proto-metal guitar breakdown leading to wicked trading of Les Paul theatrics by Rusty Burns and Kim Davis. <span style="font-style: italic;">Tatooed Lady</span> rolls along like <span>beer drinkin' hell raiser looking for love</span><span style="font-style: italic;">, </span>again with solos from both guitar slingers. <span style="font-style: italic;">Nasty Notions</span> is a funky struttin' song with more twin lead action.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rock and Roll Hideaway</span> is a little on the happier boogie side of things, but still manages to rock. Not as heavy on the killer riffage though. <span style="font-style: italic;">Part Time Lover </span>and<span style="font-style: italic;"> Back in the Alley</span> are both really cool, groovy minor blues tunes. More in the straight ahead blues category, but very cool with sweet soloing on both.<br />The 2 songs I usually skip are <span style="font-style: italic;">Stars and Scars</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Beautiful Loser</span>, which are both basically country songs. Not necessary parts of the album as far as I'm concerned. The album closer is <span style="font-style: italic;">Waiting for a Change</span>, which is a melancholy minor key southern rock ballad.<br />Lose the couple of not-so-cool songs, and combine this with the first <span style="font-weight: bold;">Point Blank</span> album and you've got 70+ minutes of top notch southern rock that is heavier and contains more long-haired loud rockin' than most <span style="font-weight: bold;">Skynyrd</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">Molly Hatchet</span> and definitely lays waste to the likes of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Outlaws</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">.38 Special</span>.<br />Granted by '76 and '77 some hard rock norms had been established, but aside from the first few ZZ Top records, southern rock, musically, often didn't live up to the biker and skull image that it had/has. Point Blank managed to deliver on that promise of darker, heavier, southern fried 70's metal. It's really surprising that they weren't a lot bigger.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 7 </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 10<br />Post Blues Factor 8<br />Groove Factor 9 <br />Dig It 10</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-43128239890981464142009-01-27T15:09:00.001-06:002011-01-14T17:16:09.204-06:00Point Blank Self Titled 1976<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Sj_hyphenhyphenSo12tGXhjYSsXImA0qqn6bPBqYue4HHs-Ba8G42XZOqzYbqdislO2qGjPIXmAaSTZDDR4-jYoQvfXVHrRGEHaZNnhn-Hx8N4bcLiNL0MdA-wlF4zxw6Pj-LR2WhpSCJQjlKLD8/s1600-h/point+blank.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296100734711731010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Sj_hyphenhyphenSo12tGXhjYSsXImA0qqn6bPBqYue4HHs-Ba8G42XZOqzYbqdislO2qGjPIXmAaSTZDDR4-jYoQvfXVHrRGEHaZNnhn-Hx8N4bcLiNL0MdA-wlF4zxw6Pj-LR2WhpSCJQjlKLD8/s320/point+blank.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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Point Blank was 5 hard rockin', cowboy hat wearin' Texas boys that weren't afraid to crank it up. Their self-titled debut was released in 1976 and was produced by Bill Ham, the man who brought us ZZ Top 6 years earlier.* Rusty Burns, one of the Point Blank guitar players, was supposedly Billy Gibbons' guitar tech. Obviously they were well steeped in the ZZ Top vibe, and it shows in the music. This album sounds like a cross between the early ZZ Top albums and the more rocking side of Lynyrd Skynyrd.<br />
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"Free Man"</i><br />
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D649647_65_9623361694" height="27" width="320"></embed><br />
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The record opens with "Free Man," a slow, dirty, sharp nine chord tune about the boys in blue. Wicked slide guitar in the beginning before it bursts into a slammin' double time twin guitar assault. These guys are pissed about the cops hassling them because of their long hair. With barely a breath, we're into "Moving," a driving ZZ Top/"Down Brownie" groove with cool harmony vocals and a killer modulation chorus and guitar break. Smokin' guitar solo. Like ZZ Top's "Down Brownie," the only flaw is that it is far too short.<br />
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"Wandering" starts out as a galloping twin guitar lead metalish trip that suddenly puts on the brakes and becomes a melancholy southern rock ballad, then jumps back to a gallop for dualing guitars. Next up is "Bad Bees", a straight ahead shuffle, a la "Chevrolet." "That's the Law" is sort of a Trapeze/Humble Pie trip given the southern rock treatment. It's got a great insrumental section with smokin' guitar action in the middle. "Lone Star Fool" brings us back from Skynyrd territory to the slow, tough, strutting blues riffage that we started out with.<br />
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"Distance" is a good old southern rock ballad that builds from the sad quiet beginning to the tear-jerker guitar solo and angst ridden last chorus. I just wish they had gotten a little heavier in the end, but it's still cool. The album closes with what seems like the radio single, but stick with it and you'll be rewarded with some good riffage and guitar battling.<br />
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This is a good album in it's entirety with some seriously rocking stuff. Great guitar sounds throughout, good Molly Hatchett-esque vocals from John O'Daniels, and some burnin' guitar riffs. It starts off very ZZ Top-ish(can't go wrong there- at least not until the 80's anyway), but ultimately ends up being a solid, well done, heavier and harder-than-most, Southern Rock record.<br />
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*Just a little side note about Bill Ham. I was told a story about the recording of ZZ Top's first record by the engineer. Apperently Bill Ham was adamantly opposed to the idea of overdubbing additional guitar parts and wanted the whole record to be recorded live. Billy Gibbons had other ideas. So after the basic tracks of the first song were laid down, Bill Ham was sent to get barbecue for everyone. The restaurant he was sent to was a good distance away, ensuring that he would be gone for about an hour, during which time Billy Gibbons laid down a slide guitar track and a couple of other parts on the song. When Bill got back with the barbecue, they played it for him without telling him what they had done, and he was blown away, thus giving Billy Gibbons the freedom to make some of the best records of all time.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 9</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Riff Caliber 10<br />
Post Blues Factor 9<br />
Groove Factor 9 <br />
Dig It 10</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-31518074485815144692009-01-27T14:51:00.000-06:002009-01-27T16:19:54.996-06:00Buffalo "Volcanic Rock/Only Want You For Your Body"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MKk4t3_eQPyFBZGh8wIsZ1XbZd-rUnaX6lWBXhISMoF4DIknpzmo7j0GVK2vRH2DUaxRI-g8n1w2EixZGNmq8gqJYnuRANusJW_rpG4kS4V8uJeCzf7DgH8fD1LBCJ8COb0E7wN_jxM/s1600-h/volcanic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MKk4t3_eQPyFBZGh8wIsZ1XbZd-rUnaX6lWBXhISMoF4DIknpzmo7j0GVK2vRH2DUaxRI-g8n1w2EixZGNmq8gqJYnuRANusJW_rpG4kS4V8uJeCzf7DgH8fD1LBCJ8COb0E7wN_jxM/s320/volcanic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296079793663008962" border="0"></a><br /><p><font class="style16">Buffalo was a heavy riff-laden rock band from Sydney, Australia. Rockin hard before Angus and Bon started boogiein', they put out 5 albums from 1972-1977, "Volcanic Rock"(1973) & "Only Want You For Your Body"(1974) being their 2nd and 3rd respectively. These 2 records have a reputation for being 2 holy grails of obscure 70's heavy rock and unlike some, fully live up to that reputation. Packed full of serious early 70's heaviness, there are no ballads and no lightweight poppy songs at all. Unlike many records from the 70's where you might get 4 or 5 rockers out of it, this is 2 full albums of great rock and roll.</font></p><p><font class="style16"> "Volcanic Rock"(love the name) consists of only 5 songs, but 3 of those are over 7 minutes. The 1st song, "Sunrise," opens with an intro that sounds very much like Atomic Bitchwax's "Liquor Queen" that says you're in for a killer ride. Then in come Dave Tice's cool rough vocals, oddly enough reminding me of Dave Wyndorf in Monster Magnet(even more so on "Only Want You For Your Body" ). Next Up, "Freedom" is a long slowly building smolderer with lengthy guitar soloing. It's definitely one of my favorites of both of these albums. After dirty bluesy "Til My Death", "The Prophet"(about Moses) is another slowly building rocker that starts with a cool repetitive riff that evolves and morphs and gets heavier and darker as we get closer to the end, never to return. The album closes with "Shylock"(think Shakespeare), which gives us a couple minutes of spacey guitar noodling over hypnotic drums and bass. Then our dreamstate is abruptly shattered by an evil intruding Sabbthesque guitar that opens the door for the next 6 minutes of heavy rockin'.</font></p><p><font class="style16"> "Volcanic Rock" has a very live feel, with mostly just 1 guitar track throughout. It feels like they played it all live in the studio with very few overdubs. Good guitar tones and the bass player, Peter Wells and drummer Jimmy Economou are just killing it, especially behind the guitar solos. Great sprawling expansive record.</font></p><p><font class="style16"> "Only Want You For Your Body" is a different beast. Also great, but a much more compact focused record. Much shorter songs, more uptempo rockers, less jammy. There are also doubled rhythm guitars and doubled vocals. Not as dark and heavy as "Volcanic Rock", but chock-full-o-riffs and smokin jams nonetheless. The studio they recorded in must have just gotten the new(at the time) Eventide Instant Phaser because everything gets a little phaser action at some point during the record; drums, vocals, entire mix, etc. Drummer is once again slamming. Highlights include: midtempo head-nodder "I'm Coming On" -even in the shorter song format, they don't shy away from long guitar soloing. "Dune Messiah" -rolling, loping sci fi tune about Frank Herbert's "Dune". The hard shuffling "What's Going On" with the psychedelic ending. "King's Cross Ladies" and "United Nations": both very similar uptempo palm mute Montrose style jams. And yes, the old Instant Phaser is pulled out again for the "United Nations" guitar solo. </font></p><p><font class="style16"> Don't know much about these guys, but looking at the picture of them from "Only Want You.." they seemed like some wacky dudes. Dave Tice is wearing a vaguely S & M-ish pair of leather pants and suspenders brandishing a whip with an evil grin on his face. A couple of them are sporting proto-mullets, looking a couple of years ahead of their time. But the most classic thing is John Baxter(guitar) and Economou(drummer) both have their pants rolled up to their knees so you can see the full glory of their wicked platform boots. They're not messin' around.</font></p><p><font class="style16"> If you can find these albums, check them out. They definitely rock.<br /></font></p><font style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 8</font><font style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 8<br />Post Blues Factor 9<br />Groove Factor 8 <br />Dig It 9</font>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-27783256510263940792009-01-22T12:53:00.000-06:002009-01-27T14:51:34.330-06:00Boomerang 1971<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SvkJFWO6Uxrbu26NoUVsBUzYI5IyF-o-S-LDaY5Scx5I3Wjw3NyJ2SJycTwMd1iGzOJKnnvyCWq1Lyz22zgfhF2jARrAwRw-9NRT18lxVtiMRV0VK0nDC8Q8SX59yB-E8ox7ezljnu8/s1600-h/Boomerang.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: left; cursor: pointer; width: 304px; height: 309px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SvkJFWO6Uxrbu26NoUVsBUzYI5IyF-o-S-LDaY5Scx5I3Wjw3NyJ2SJycTwMd1iGzOJKnnvyCWq1Lyz22zgfhF2jARrAwRw-9NRT18lxVtiMRV0VK0nDC8Q8SX59yB-E8ox7ezljnu8/s320/Boomerang.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294195623590311506" border="0" /></a><br />After Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice left <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vanilla Fudge</span> to form <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cactus</span>, singer/organist Mark Stein disbanded the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fudge</span> and founded <span style="font-weight: bold;">Boomerang</span> with James Galluzi on drums, Jo Casmir on bass and helping with the vocal duties, and Ricky Ramirez, who supposedly was 15 or 16 years old at the time (what the...?!), on guitar. They only released 1 album, although rumor has it that a second was recorded, before calling it quits. Yet another crying shame because the potential here was phenomenal!<br />This lone self titled album consists of only 7 songs, 3 of which are absolute monsters. I'll start with those first. <span style="font-style: italic;">Juke It, Cynthia Fever</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Peddler</span> are slammin' world class hard rock; on par anything the other heavies of the day were putting out. Not an inkling of sounding dated or too beholden to the 60's. This was full on modern Rock. <span style="font-style: italic;">Juke It</span> is a slowish pummeling guitar/organ groove with a bridge/middle section that has a mean, mean guitar riff that just brings a sneer to your face. This leads to some greasy guitar soloing slinking around overdriven Hammond organ.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Cynthia Fever</span> has a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Deep Purple</span> kind of <span style="font-style: italic;">Maybe I'm a Leo</span> funk to it. Stein and Casmir trade off delivering soulful vocals and then more greasy wah guitar soloing over nasty Hammond.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Peddler</span> is also a slowish, hard groovin' tune driven by the dual assault of guitar and Hammond riffing. About halfway through it breaks into a heavy shuffle for trading of smokin' solos between guitar and Hammond B3 over a slamming drum/bass groove.<br />The sounds on this album are great. Killer guitar tone, wonderfully overdriven organ, growling bass, hard rocking drums complete with an urgent effective mix.<br />The rest of the record, while well written and performed, is lighter weight songs that don't rise to the same heights of masterful riffery. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Fisherman</span> is an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Allman Bros</span>. country-ish rock tune. <span style="font-style: italic;">Hard Times</span> brings out the acoustic guitars for some 70's Top 40 rock, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Brother's Coming</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Home</span> is a piano-driven ballad, complete with strings. It does build to a kind of cool symphonic <span style="font-weight: bold;">Queen</span> interlude in the middle. <span style="font-style: italic;">Mockingbird</span> is a blues shuffle with Stein and Casmir again trading vocal duties, occasionally breaking into harmony.<br />The big 3 tunes on this record make it all worth it to me. Yes, they are <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> good. Whenever I make a compilation of wicked 70's rock, one of these songs always makes it into the mix. I really find it hard to believe that Ricky Ramirez, who sank back into obscurity after <span style="font-weight: bold;">Boomerang</span>, was really only 15 or 16 years old, based on the maturity,tastefulness and just sheer rockingness of the guitar playing. The bass playing and drumming are equally cool. What happened to those guys? I don't know, but this band of unkowns along with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vanilla Fudge's</span> Mark Stein comstituted a formidable crew. Much moreso than many other bands that had more lasting careers.<br />And the score is:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 4 </span>(less than half the album consists of heavy riffage)<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 9 </span>(the riffage and general rocking involved that is present is world class)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Post Blues Factor 8<br />Groove Factor 10 <br />Dig It 10 </span>(10 for the big 3 songs mentioned above. If I'm considering the album as a whole, I would give it maybe a 6)Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-44514482823681187092008-11-04T12:40:00.001-06:002011-01-14T17:20:29.491-06:00Leaf Hound "Growers of Mushroom" 1971<div><br />
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<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvSVS0v4VOVSOqlbvYphRBJd2GX1pw3__bt4fH6hgSf6yug3JgX89kZkayKbI2aXdR2m_8OgChV729uD7lzsM_HrVFV4drLni7Ccy1vwmUqhYvoUP2ugBBaO4Qwupfay4BVpn_WXit5I/s1600-h/leaf+hound.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264876471916672562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvSVS0v4VOVSOqlbvYphRBJd2GX1pw3__bt4fH6hgSf6yug3JgX89kZkayKbI2aXdR2m_8OgChV729uD7lzsM_HrVFV4drLni7Ccy1vwmUqhYvoUP2ugBBaO4Qwupfay4BVpn_WXit5I/s320/leaf+hound.jpg" style="display: block; height: 319px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<div>Ah yes, the fabled <b>Leaf Hound</b>. Many have spoken of this mythical record in the most glowing terms. But is all the hype true? Only you can decide that, but I am going to add my 2 cents to the debate. <br />
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The late 60's London blues scene is where it all began. It was a bubbling cauldron of blues that would become the new rock. <b>Cream</b> and <b>Hendrix</b>. <b>Free</b>, <b>Zeppelin </b>and<b> Jeff Beck</b>. And right in the middle of it all, a band called <b>Black Cat Bones</b> that boasted at one time or another as members, Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke, who later started <b>Free,</b> and Rod Price who became a member of <b>Foghat</b>. <b>Black Cat</b> <b>Bones</b> alums Peter French, Stuart and Derek Brooks, Mick Halls, and Keith Young formed <b>Leaf</b> <b>Hound</b>. Peter French later replaced Rusty Day as the singer for the American rock behemoth <b>Cactus</b>(on the <i>'Ot and Sweaty</i> album), and also later sang with <b>Atomic Rooster</b>. The lone <b>Black</b> <b>Cat Bones</b> recording, <i>Barbed Wire Sandwich, </i>is a hard and heavy blues romp. Sticking closely to blues forms, like <b>Free's </b>first, <i>Tons of Sobs,</i> it was also looking to the future, with some heavy electric guitar riffing, especially on songs like <i>Chaffeur </i>and <i>Save My Love,</i> which believe it or not always makes me think of the nasty gut punch riffs of <b>Church of Misery. </b>It is not, however, fully realized heavy rock. Like I said, it is very much a straight ahead blues record in form. <br />
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<div align="center"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264891978991314354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsF-ETXeun5m_61a7LbbE2RxOdFp7Sk7uX45XI4qNZ9sT-nRn7qWHzJiey1lekHXPMvvNyz5_md6JQYGBeZSr_Ihxo8bz06xVuQBEG4rBLhjJeYHS-NTisJOIh6Wa-MyapnLi-ikKXPY/s320/leaf+hound+tour.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 320px;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Man, check out dude's wicked vest!<br />
<i>"Freelance Fiend" </i></div><embed height="27" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D649647_65_9623354534" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" wmode="transparent"></embed><br />
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</div><b>Leaf Hound</b> G<i>rowers of Mushroom</i> takes the next step<i>.</i> It has moved beyond the standard blues format into solid riff rock, albeit for only about half the album. The opener, the brutal <span style="font-style: italic;">Freelance Fiend</span>, is worth the price of admission on it's own. It's a tough swaggering tune based on a wicked driving riff. The heaviness is then ramped down for <span style="font-style: italic;">Sad Road to the Sea</span>, which brings in the acoustic guitars for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zeppelin</span> meets <span style="font-weight: bold;">May Blitz</span> kind of vibe. <span style="font-style: italic;">Drowned My Life in Fear</span> steps it back up with a very cool<span style="font-style: italic;"> Dazed and Confused</span>-like blues. The album continues it's pattern of alternating heavy for not-so-heavy with <span style="font-style: italic;">Work My Body</span>, which is a bit like the somewhat funky <span style="font-weight: bold;">Free </span>self titled 2nd album. Clean guitars, mellow groove, soulful vocals, building to a couple of rockin' guitar solo workouts. It doesn't quite have the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stax</span> soul funk that is more present with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Free</span>, though. Again bringing to mind <span style="font-weight: bold;">May Blitz</span>. Then we're back to Riffland with the smokin' <span style="font-style: italic;">Stray</span>, which, by the way, was covered by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Unida</span>. Great riffage on this one. A little too short though.<br />
<div align="left"><span style="font-style: italic;">With a Minute to Go</span> unpacks the acoustic guitars again for an uplifting, light gospel rock song with a pretty cool minor key <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zeppelin</span>esque guitar/vocal vamp at the end. The title track, <span style="font-style: italic;">Growers of Mushroom</span>, sounds quite dated compared to the rest of the album. It's a very 60's hippy-ish trip.<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Stagnant Pool</span> ratchets the rock back up. Killer riffage once again. If only they could sustain this level of Rock throughout. <span style="font-style: italic;">Sawdust Caesar</span> goes back to the funky <span style="font-weight: bold;">Free</span> territory, even sounding a little <span style="font-weight: bold;">Trapeze</span>-like, yet lighter.<br />
Bonus tracks on the Repertoire reissue that I have are <span style="font-style: italic;">It's Going to Get Better, </span>which is another gospel rock piano/organ driven song, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Hip Shaker</span>, that starts of with a slammin' riff but then turns into just a straight ahead boogie blues.<br />
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As I said, about half the album is a hard rockin' kick to the groin. The rest is good quality welterweight rock. <span style="font-style: italic;">Freelance Fiend, Drowned My Life in Fear, Stray </span>and<span style="font-style: italic;"> Stagnant Pool</span> make the whole thing worth checking out. They are completely riff based and if you can get past the pretty thin, piercing mix, are pure rock goodness. The album was recorded in 11 hours according to the liner notes and it does kind of sound like it. With a better mix, this would have been a much more powerful record. It's too bad they didn't stick around for a followup effort. Given the prevailing vibe of the times around them, I think they would have pounded out some harder heavier tunage the second time around.<br />
Here's my rating:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">-5<br />
</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Caliber -10 </span>(though somewhat few and far between, the riffs that are present slay)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Post-Blues Factor - 8</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Groove Factor - 7</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Dig it Factor</span> - 6<br />
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<div align="center"></div></div></div></div>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-71622160204658096302008-10-22T13:46:00.000-05:002008-10-22T14:18:56.717-05:00Deep Purple "Come Taste the Band"<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Deep Purple - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Come Taste the Band<br /></span>1975<br /><br /><br /></span>This<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> </span>often maligned album is maybe my favorite <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Purple </span>album. Yeah, I love <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">In Rock </span></span>and <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Machine Head</span></span>, too<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">.</span></span>They are both monolithic and monumental installments in the history of Rock, but I find myself listening to this album more frequently. This is the <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Deep Purple</span> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Mk IV</span> lineup, consisting of David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Ian Paice, Jon Lord and the brilliant Tommy Bolin replacing Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. Many hardcore <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Purple</span> fans hate this record, because of the absence of Blackmore I think, more than anything else. True enough, it does not sound like the earlier <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Purple, </span>but why should it? This particular line up had amazing potential. They continued the heavy bluesy riff tradition of before and explored the funk that had been simmering under the surface since <strong><em>In Rock, Fireball </em></strong>and<strong><em> Machine Head. </em></strong>This funkiness was magnified by the addition of Glenn Hughes, whose previous band, <strong>Trapeze,</strong> played a mean proto funk rock that sounded like the <strong>Pat Travers Band,</strong><em> </em>except in 1971 instead of '78 or '79. What <strong>Purple Mk IV </strong>thankfully did not continue was the classical noodling that, as far as I'm concerned, killed the vibe of many a <strong>Purple </strong>song. <strong><em>Highway Star </em></strong>is a classic example. Great hard rockin' beast of a song until the ridiculous classical inspired guitar/organ theatrics. C'mon man, keep it rocking. Seriously. Tommy Bolin does just that, and without Blackmore's medeival vibe to egg him on, Jon Lord keeps it rocking too, gettin' funky when necessary. The ultimate tragedy of <strong>Purple Mk IV</strong> really was the lack balls and/or vision on the part of Coverdale/Hughes/Paice/Lord when it came to playing the older <strong>Purple</strong> songs that everyone knew on tour. Fearing that they'd lose their fans, they wanted Bolin to play Blackmore's solos verbatim and be simply a Blackmore clone. I think this just beat Bolin down and destroyed the remarkable chemistry and vibe that is on display on <strong><em>Come Taste the Band</em></strong>.<br /><br />When you first drop the needle on <em>Comin' Home,</em> the opening song on this record, Tommy's presence is announced loud and clear with his trademark echoplex feedback which then busts into a classic Hammond organ driven Deep Purple gallop, sending the message from the get-go: "this is Purple meets Bolin." And a winnning combination it is. The songs have a big bluesy riff, arena rock feel to them, with Coverdale just killing throughout. Most of the songs were penned by Bolin, Coverdale and Hughes. <em>Lady Luck</em>, the 2nd tune, is actually a song from the repetoire of Tommy's earlier band from Colorado, <strong>Energy.</strong> <em>Gettin' Tighter </em>is a hard groovin' mid tempo monster with a funk breakdown in the middle. <em>The Dealer</em> takes us on a ride to the wrong part of town, with a wicked groove and some mean slide guitar, funky clavinet from Jon Lord, and pure vintage Bolin soloing. <em>I Need Love</em> starts out 70's FM radio rock and then turns into southern fried soul funk. Yeah, seems odd, but works. <em>Drifter</em> is back to the hold-your-lighter-in-the-air arena, big riff rock. More briliant Bolin soloing. <em>Love Child</em> hits hard with an evil Sabbatherian riff and a Herbie Hancock-ish moog solo. Yeah, I know. Again, sounds strange, but is actually really cool<em>. This Time Around,</em> the only ballad of the album, is a vehicle for Glenn Hughes' great vocals., that goes straight into <em>Owed to G(</em>the G is for George Gershwin<em>),</em> a fusion-tinged instrumental workout with more vintage Bolin. The album closes with <em>You Keep on Moving,</em> a dark, moody, Pink Floydesque song with a brilliant Hammond B3 solo from Jon Lord and ending cool dual leads from Tommy.<br /><br /><br />This album is not super heavy in the metal sense, but it rocks hard throughout. This is "put the eight track in the '69 Charger and hang with your friends on summer vacation" music. It stays true to the riff. The entire bands sounds amazing. Paice's drumming is slammming, Hughes grooves hard, Coverdale, like I said earlier, slays, Jon Lord is tasteful, funky and rockin', and I've already mentioned the larger than life greatness of Tommy Bolin. Stay tuned for some in depth reviews of Tommy Bolin and <strong>Energy</strong> , either here or on the Wo Fat website.<br /><br /><br /><br />One thing I absolutely hate, though, is the album cover. Really bad design going on here. Kind of dumb, and, honestly, somewhat disturbing.<br /><br /><p>And the rating is...<br /></p><br /><strong>Riff Density - 7</strong><br /><br /><strong>Riff Caliber - 8</strong><br /><br /><strong>Post Blues Factor - 9</strong><br /><br /><strong>Groove Factor - 10</strong><br /><br /><strong>Dig It Factor -10</strong>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-14223233625880520002008-10-02T09:48:00.000-05:002008-10-02T11:14:02.309-05:00Stray Dog 1973<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHT4f7JtJS1SB1YkGsn6E85kICgZBgDPZYebQBN19PkOf6fs_xznWcUhKLZIZhBOle4sSKskNQd6_6rNN8fWywQf2iqYvti4Nf_2uopRNAa4FG1CdcvscPBLpELuKXceVXLMGOMN9IBU/s1600-h/410WCAEBA9L._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHT4f7JtJS1SB1YkGsn6E85kICgZBgDPZYebQBN19PkOf6fs_xznWcUhKLZIZhBOle4sSKskNQd6_6rNN8fWywQf2iqYvti4Nf_2uopRNAa4FG1CdcvscPBLpELuKXceVXLMGOMN9IBU/s200/410WCAEBA9L._SL500_AA240_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252571158246005090" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog S/T</span><br />1973<br /><br />This album is one crazy wheels-off ride. I had heard about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog </span>a few years back and happened across their second album, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">While You're Down There. </span>I brought it home and gave it a spin on the old turntable only to be hugely disappointed. The guitars were <span style="font-style: italic;">almost </span>heavy, but the songs were sickeningly-sweet-rot-your-teeth pop. Pure tripe. So I crossed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog</span> off my list of records to find. Fast forward a couple years... I read somewhere somebody comparing a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Firebird </span>album to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog. </span>Hmm... Yeah, right. Whatever. Then, at the used record store what do I stumble across but the first self titled <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog </span>record. I picked it up, looked at it, considered it, then put it back, thinking of the sick stomach I got from the other <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog</span> album I already wasted my money on and left the store. As the next week goes by, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Firebird</span> comparison keeps creeping into my mind, so I finally decide to go back and see if it's still there. Sure enough, it was there and wow, it is night and day compared with the second album.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stray Dog </span>was a Texas power trio, led by singer/guitar player Snuffy Walden, who were tapped by Greg Lake, of ELP, to come to England to record their debut. They subsequently toured with ELP, but the album never really took off.<br /><br />The album opens with a grandiose pipe organ intro, after which Snuffy sneers at you "Fasten your seatbelts!" and then the ride begins. The first 2 songs assail you with barbaric chaotic power trio bluesrock, full of wicked riffs, Snuffy's swaggering and swaying sidewinder guitar soloing, and a ferocious rhythm section pounding. After a ballad, which I always skip, there's a killer version of <span style="font-weight: bold;">ZZ Top's </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Chevrolet. </span>Next<span style="font-style: italic;"> Speak of the Devil</span>, complete with Stax-like background singers, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Slave</span> rock soulful yet savage. The last song reins the wild dog pack in a bit for some more straight ahead 70's pop rock. Not a bad song, but not up snuff, or is it snuffy, in the riff department compared to the rest.<br />There's only 7 songs on the album, but the 5 serious rockers make it well worth the trip. It's not heavy in a behemoth power chord kind of way, but more like a berserk rabid dog ripping apart your <span style="font-weight: bold;">ZZ Top</span> records. This album definitely lands high up on my list of 70's obscurities. And non-obscurities as well really. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Firebird </span>comparison is not a bad one after all. It's very much Texas power trio heavily blues-infused rock.<br />Don't know what the story is with the 2nd album, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">While You're Down There. </span></span>A second guitar player and a new singer were added for it. I would guess it was pressure from the record company to come up with something more palatable for the mainstream based on the lack of success of their first album. Shame.<br />If you see the first album, buy it.<br /><br />Anyway, here's my rating:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">7</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Caliber - 9</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Post Blues Factor - 9</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Groove Factor - 8</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dig It Factor -10</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-90595898196041450912008-09-30T16:07:00.001-05:002008-10-01T14:58:03.811-05:00The Wo Fat Rating SystemOk, here we go. This is the rating system, mentioned in the previous blog,that I have devised for my record reviews. I have 5 factors that will have a number from 0-10. Of course this is all subjective and completely my opinion, so do with it what you will. Not having actually used this system yet, I may have to make some changes, but let's just see how it works.<br /><br />The 5 factors are:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Caliber,</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Post-Blues Factor,</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Groove Factor,</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dig it Factor</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density</span> is just what it says. How full of riffage is the album. Does it only have 2 songs that are rockin or is the entire album chock full of riffy goodness?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber </span>is basically quality of the riffage. The album may only have 2 rockin' songs on it, thus giving it a lower <span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density</span>, but those 2 songs may be composed of pure unadluterated genius riffs, thus giving it a higher <span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Caliber </span>number. There are plenty of classic must-have albums that are completely worth owning even though they contain only a few killer songs. In fact a lot of the late 60's and early 70's, especially 1970 and '71, albums can be very hit and miss. The style was still being defined at that point. These first 2 factors hopefully address that fact.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Post-blues Factor</span> This one's a bit nebulous. This factor will try to place the music somewhere in the rock and roll spectrum in relation to it's blues influence. In the middle is straight up blues at 5.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers </span>would get a 5. The higher you get, the more evolved yet still highly blues based(not necessarily structurally based, but definitely conceptually and melodically ,i.e. blues scale/minor pentatonic) . <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black Sabbath</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paranoid</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Master of Reality</span> would both be around a 10 because they are fully realized post blues/proto metal derived directly from the blues. Below 5 we are moving away from the blues. Now why would you want to do that? I dunno. Let's put a good amount of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Beatles </span>catalog below 5. Yeah, I know they played some blues, but for the most part they pushed Rock and Roll in the other direction.<br />Hopefully my bizarre logic makes some semblance of sense and will be helpful to some of you.<br />Again, this scale isn't necessarily a reflection of quality. I'm just trying to help describe the difference between <span style="font-weight: bold;">Master of Reality, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jeff Beck-Truth </span><span>and</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Yellow Submarine.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Groove Factor - </span>This too is a nebulous ephemeral cloudlike formation that probably only makes sense to me. I'm thinking of it basically like this: how much does the record jam or rock or groove. Is the band just slamming? Is there some indescribable intangible something that makes this album work? Can you feel the electricity emanating from the grooves or does it feel cold and stifled? I guess you could say this is partly execution or delivery. This is maybe the least helpful factor, but there are some albums that are great because the delivery is so heavy even though musically it maybe wouldn't rank quite as high.<br />I suppose I just wanted a way of highlighting the instances when I feel a real chemistry; when it feels like the stars have aligned for certain albums and bands at certain times more than anything else. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Led Zeppelin IV </span>is a good example. Not only is the groove that is being laid down by John Bonham and John Paul Jones throughout just sick, but the album as a whole is otherworldy genius. The stars aligned and everything fell into place perfectly for that album.<br />The first 3 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cactus </span>albums have some serious groove and chemistry goin' on. They have a very live feel to them.<br />Yeah I know, this is a very subjective category.<br /><br /><br />and lastly:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dig It: </span>This is simply how much I like the album.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's a few well known albums rated with the system to give you some insight into my thinking:<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Black Sabbath - Paranoid <br />Riff Density 10 </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 10<br />Post Blues Factor 10<br />Groove Factor 9 <br />Dig It 10</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Led Zeppelin - II <br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 6</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 9<br />Post Blues Factor 8<br />Groove Factor 8 <br />Dig It 9</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Led Zeppelin - III <br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 4</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 7<br />Post Blues Factor 7<br />Groove Factor 6 <br />Dig It 6<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">ZZ Top - First Album<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 9</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 10<br />Post Blues Factor 9<br />Groove Factor 10 <br />Dig It 10</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Free - Tons of Sobs<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riff Density 6</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Riff Caliber 7<br />Post Blues Factor 6<br />Groove Factor 7 <br />Dig It 8</span>Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1659602127924312263.post-9529406353556607672008-09-30T09:23:00.000-05:002008-09-30T16:05:54.084-05:00The Quest for RockLet the mad rambling begin...<br />I have spent the majority of my life searching for music, always with a seemingly never ending and ever evolving wishlist. Looking for this or that obscure record by whoever, sometimes finding the most amazing mindblowing music, and sometimes getting home, excited about a new score, only to drop the needle and be sorely disappointed. But that's what it's all about now isn't it? The search. The hunt. Finding that hidden treasure.<br /> These days, you can find out a little bit of information about most albums out there. That information is sometimes helpful, and sometimes not. When I was a kid buying records, the internet didn't exist. You just had to jump in and take a chance. How many times did I buy an album just because it looked cool or the band had a cool name? How many of those cool looking records sucked? Asia anyone? I guess it's still true that you have to take a chance a lot of times when you buy records(like I said, when I first started listening to music, it was the days of vinyl, so I still refer to albums, whether they are vinyl or cd, as "records." That's what it is. A Record). Music is so subjective, and not everyone is looking to get the same thing out of it. As is probably obvious from the sound of my band, Wo Fat, I have a huge love for the blues, 70's hard rock and the early foundational days of metal, which is where a lot of my musical quest is spent these days. Because of this I am always looking for information about this music. Stonerrock.com has a Classic Album reviews section in it's forum that is a good place to find reviews of lots of albums. One thread in particular that asked for reader's votes for the best obscure heavy 70's albums turned me on to a bunch of records I didn't previously know about.<br /> Another resource I found is a great book by Martin Popoff entitled "The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal, Volume 1: The Seventies." In this book, Martin Popoff has done an amazing job of writing excellent brief reviews of thousands of records from bands you've heard of and a bunch you haven't. As cool as Martin's book is and as cool as the Stonerrock.com forum pages are, not to mention lots of other online sources, they sometimes fall short for me, either because of lack of the specific information that I'm looking for, or the fact that the reviewer is, like I said earlier, listening for other things than I am, or just percieves things differently. There are a number of records that I think are pretty much on the lame side and would have left in the record bin had it not been for some Martin Popoff and Stonerrock.com review. Some examples:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Heavy Metal Kids</span> -Do not buy this record if you see it at the used record store. Put it down, back away from it slowly and pretend you never saw it.It will hurt you inside. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Asterix </span>-Martin said "if more people new this existed, you'd have to add it to the short list of important and first heavy metal records of all time..." I beg to differ, but maybe I'll give it another spin; <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hard Stuff-Bulletproof</span> - yeah, this will piss a bunch of people off. Everybody lists this as one of the top 10 obscure 70's heavies. I don't know man, I think it sucks, but that's a subject for another blog entry. Stay tuned...<br /> Therefore, I have decided to add my voice to the din. I am going to dedicate this blog primarily to giving my take on bands and their albums from the 60's and 70's that laid the foundations of all Heavy Metal and today's Stoner Rock, thus hopefully giving another perspective and opinion to anyone interested in this music.<br /><br /> Martin Popoff, in his book, uses a rating system consisting of 2 numbers for his album reviews. The first number is the Heaviness rating, and the second number is a reflection of how much he likes the record. For example, Martin gives <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black Sabbath - Master of Reality </span>a <span style="font-weight: bold;">9/10</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">ZZ Top - Tres Hombres </span>- <span style="font-weight: bold;">7/10, </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Led Zeppelin II </span>- <span style="font-weight: bold;">5/7,</span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">AC/DC-Let There Be Rock </span>- <span style="font-weight: bold;">9/10. </span>Inspired by Martin's rating system, I have come up with my own rating system that is a little more detailed and has more factors in an attempt to describe some of the things that I dig in a rock and roll record. <br /><br /> Because I have been rambling for awhile here and also in order to have the rating system explanation more accessible, I will make that it's own blog entry.Wo Fathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01017999661426308711noreply@blogger.com2