DILLINGER

Semi-prog Canadian act formed in 1973 by two brothers, multi-instrumentalist Jacques Harrison and drummer Robert Harrison (later to perform with Offenbach), both coming from the Quebec area.The line-up was completed with guitarist Paul Cockburn and bassist Terry Bramhall, the band soon signed with Daffodil Records and released their self-titled debut in 1974, re-issued in 1998 in CD format by Unidisc.

The album opens with ''People'' in a very promising Classic Prog start, featuring a style split between complex Prog and organ-based Hard Prog with fiery guitar work, excellent organ runs and some beautiful symphonic-inclined flutes towards the end.GENESIS, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, YES AND JETHRO TULL-influences are more than obvious in this very good composition.However the rest of the album never reaches this level.''City main'' is a commercial Hard Rock tune with decent guitar leads, only saved by a jazzy-influenced middle part.In a very short effort of just over 30 minutes, the cover of the classic Spririt track ''Nature's way'' (from the album ''Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus'') can only be regarded as lack of inspiration.Dillinger added a wind section to this cover, making it quite personal, but the idea of covering a track in such a short release can't be highlighted.The band closed the debut with the 17-min. ''Live and Return''.The ''Live'' part is decent guitar-based Fusion blended with classic Heavy Rock mannerisms and supporting organs with a somewhat dated sound and uninteresting multi-vocal parts, while ''Return'' opens with an organ jamming, soon to be followed by a totally needless and uninspirational long drum-solo, lasting over 3 minutes.

I wish the band would have kept the masterful sound of the opening track throughout the release, but I guess nobody (almost) is perfect.Mediocre album in general, where ''People'' shines through by far.Recommended only if you run over a cheap copy...2.5 stars.

Dill's first album is a bit half-baked, as it's made of almost an EP worth of enjoyable album and some really embarrasing stuff. The A-side's first two tracks are interesting heavy-rock-prog (one with a jazzy overtone), but it is followed by an embarrassingly bad cover-version od Spirit's Nature's Way. Indeed the band uses the Vanilla Fudge treatment of slowing down the tempo of a great tune, but they totally miss the target as the result almost insults the original. And that's about it for the a-side, clocking around the quarter hour.

The flipside is made of a side-long track that seems to hesitate between studio and live, and if the first 12 minutes are fine, there is a boooooooring drum solo that totally ruins the tracks, though it resumes with a final 90 seconds band effort.

Please note that their next (dumbly titled) album, Dillinger will do much better with a steaming-hot pure progressive rock album, though they will repeat their blunder of massacring the Beatles' Taxman with the same Fudge treatment, though I never enjoyed that track nearly as much as Spirit's anthem. Please start with their second album, then you feel like it, this one will offer a half-album of good heavy prog.