Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Babe Ruth - First Base CD (album) cover

FIRST BASE

Babe Ruth

 

Heavy Prog

3.74 | 172 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
4 stars 'First Base' is a stormer of an album. Not fully complex like a lot of prog we know and love, but equally as effective. When I got this LP a while back, I was naturally drawn to the Roger Dean artwork, and not knowing anything of the band, took a chance. 'Wells Fargo' rocks, can't put it any other way, and vocalist Jennie Haan belts out her lines like a female version of Ozzy Osbourne !! Great opener. 'The Runaways' is a softer, more symphonic sounding piece that is beautiful - a personal favourite. Next up we get a cover version of Frank Zappa's instrumental 'King Kong' (haven't heard the original, though) with some great electric-piano work and guitaring. Side 2 starts with 'Black Dog', another cover song (penned by Jesse Winchester), and the longest track on the album. It starts out quietly and gradually builds into a hard-edged jammy track with excellent guitar runs. 'The Mexican' seems to be a big hit although I've never heard it on the radio here in Australia, maybe I was too young...I was 1 when the album came out. Anyway, awesome song it is, great riff with e-piano and guitar, cool drumming, castanets and Jennie's superb vocals. It interpolates 'Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu', a famous Morricone composition, which fits into the song as if it was meant to be - just listen to the MP3 here. Last song on the album, 'Joker', starts out with more of that tinkly electric-piano and is generally hard- rocking with some strong vocal duels between Jennie and guitarist Alan Shacklock. Clearly, in prog terms, this album doesn't break any new ground, but it is an excellent addition to any music collection, whatever genre.
Tom Ozric | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this BABE RUTH review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.