MOGUL THRASH

'Mogul Thrash' - another album I originally purchased as a vinyl sometime in the 1970's. Can't remember where I heard from it first or who suggested it to me. The line-up is a who is who of the prog and rock scene basically and only regarding Michael Rosen and drummer Bill Harrison there's nothing to find about a life after MOGUL THRASH. There we have James Litherland who started with Colosseum, John Wetton - at the very start here, evolving to a prolific (prog) rock musician later - I never heard him playing the bass that virtuoso! Roger Ball and Malcolm Duncan changed to the Average White Band in the aftermath - a scottish soul funk band which I also like ... at least when it comes to their early phase.

Now when listening to this album after such a long time (the original version) I at least can recollect that I found the trippy sci-fi cover art somewhat fascinating, six cool musicians in front of clouds, nowadays this can't move me anymore though. The music so much the more. Elegy starts as a typical jamming instrumental jazz rock track with a line-up reduced on bass, drums and guitar (Litherland on top) . After some time though the track turns into another direction including vocals and brass contributions which remind me of Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Keyboards are missing, okay except when Brian Auger's piano once appears on the short St. Peter - and finally What's This I Hear comes truely shimmering, a challenging composition. Their self-named debut is a very good jazz rock effort, with John Wetton in a genial mood, produced by Brian Auger, James Litherland is quite dominant. So besides the aforementioned bands this is also reminiscent to Colosseum, Chicago, IF a bit. Vocals and musicianship are excellent. The digital re-issue comes with several alternative songs versions, this might be an additional argument to check this album out.