VOLUME ONE

There are a few reviewers out there that I respect who rate this quite highly but for my tastes I can't go any higher than the 3 stars. SHAMPOO were from Belgium and released this one album back in 1972. A six piece band with four seasoned musicians who had played previously in bands like MAD CURRY, THE PEBBLES and NEW INSPIRATION. Many tag this as Canterbury along with Jazz/ Rock because of the silliness I suppose. We get two sax players often playing together and the vocals are primarily in English.

"Brother" is a poppy track unlike the rest of the album. It's bright and uptempo and kind of silly with plenty of sax, vocals and piano. It actually reminds me of Neal Morse's more poppy tunes surprisingly. "Keep The Day Cool" is classical sounding to start before turning into an uptempo horn driven tune, although it is all over the place early on. It settles when the vocals arrive after 1 1/2 minutes. Catchy but like the opener I'm just not into it. Nice bass with keyboards before 3 minutes though. I like this as the sax joins in then the chorus returns. An extended instrumental section follows with lots of dual sax.

"Some Reason" is the longest song at 11 minutes. Now this sounds really good. A more serious sound with sax, drums and bass standing out. It settles right down with vocals before 3 minutes. The vocals are too sugary if you know what I mean. It kicks back in around 4 1/2 minutes as the vocals step aside and we get some rare guitar. This is an uptempo section with no sax until 6 minutes in. High pitched vocals follow. I like this. Horns end this passage before 8 minutes then a completely new section takes over sounding very classical. The sax are back late.

"Summer" opens in an impressive manner with with drums, bass, sax and organ, some guitar too. Nice bass solo 2 minutes in then the vocals arrive as it settles with organ, sax and drums. I'm not as into this but the instrumental work continues to impress. "Hot Dog" is catchy with vocals to start. An organ solo after 1 1/2 minutes then the sax, drums and more join in. This is good. Back to the vocals and silliness 2 1/2 minutes in as themes are repeated. Dual sax late to end it.

"Hurry Up" is a 9 minute tune with an uptempo instrumental start. A calm before a minute then it builds with dual sax and more. A drum solo follows that I find quite lack lustre and it lasts for almost 6 minutes! The final minute of the song is good though but overall a disappointment. "My Sweet Honeybee" ends it and while I like the instrumental work and almost spoken vocals the lyrics are pretty bad in my opinion.

Worth checking for sure and it seems opinions are pretty divided over this one.