USING THE HEAD

I really enjoyed The Dawn Anew is Comin' and From Books and Dreams, they reminded me a bit of a heavier Nektar (helps that Allan "Taff" Freeman provided some Mellotron on those albums as a guest), but I really can't say the same of Using the Head. With such cheap bathroom humor for an album title, you'd think this band went all Frank Zappa on us, but that's hardly the case. Since the band released two more albums between From Books and Dreams and this one, it's clear that the only original member left was Allan Murdoch. Horst Stachelhaus was by now a member of Birth Control. To my ears, this is a pretty mediocre rock album without much of the great heaviness and progginess of their first two albums (I haven't heard any of their other albums except their first two and this one). I realize this is 1977 and not 1972/'73, but I've heard much better albums than this from 1977. The band was flirting with boogie and the occasional disco tendencies have themselves felt, but I can say I do enjoy "Walking on a Rainbow". Other than that this album really did little for me.

Whatever you do, don't make this your first purchase, try The Dawn Anew is Comin' and From Books and Dreams, you'll be glad you did. Get Using the Head if you need everything from the band or need everything on the Brain label.