FUZZY DUCK

The members of Fuzzy Duck were certainly not novices by the time they banded together and released their only studio album. Bassist Mick Hawksworth had spent the latter sixties with future Atomic Rooster alumnus John Du Cann in the hard-core psych band The Five Day Week Straw People, with both of them later moving on to the semi-legendary psych band Andromeda where they were joined by Fuzzy vocalist/guitarist the late Grahame White. Drummer Paul Francis had played with both The End and Tucky Buzzard. And Roy Sharland had been a member of the pre-Uriah Heep lineup known as Spice. So from that curriculum vitae you would expect a sound that included psych and blues guitar, heavy Hammond organ riffs, and above all very well-structured rhythms. Plus this was recorded in 1970 so throw in poor production, muddy bass notes and unremarkable male vocals straining outside their natural limits.

Well I’m happy to report that the band does not disappoint, as the previous paragraph describes Fuzzy Duck to a ‘T’. Presumably named after the old drinking game of the same name, Fuzzy Duck were a brief flash in the pan that apparently served as little more than a vehicle for the various professionals in it to move on to other things. The band doesn’t seem to have stayed together for more than a year or two, but they clearly had enough in the form of individual reputation and connections to land a record deal on the fledgling but up-and-coming MAM Records label.

But keep in mind that blues-based psych rock with heavy bass, lots of Hammond and strained male vocals were standard fare in 1970, so I’m not sure this really qualifies as progressive music unless we’re assuming just about everything from Canned Heat to Blind Faith qualifies as prog rock. Probably not.

That’s not to say this is a throwaway album though, because there’s some pretty good music on it. It’s just not substantively different from early Uriah Heep, Steppenwolf, Grand Funk, Jody Grind, Wishbone Ash or any of dozens of bands like them. As long as you are okay with that, this is a pretty decent album.

The album kicks off with a heavy bass, lively Hammond rocker titled “Time Will Be Your Doctor”. This is pure hard rock but well played (“Country Boy” later on the album falls into this category as well). And while “Mrs. Prout” is quite similar there is a move toward more psych-leaning guitar and drawn-out keyboards ala Ray Manzarek. After this comes “Just Look around You”, which borders on being a heavy folk tune but is backed with the heavy organ and bass emphasis again.

But then back comes the psych, this time quite heavy and extended thanks to White’s guitar and vocals on “Afternoon Out” and “More Than I Am”. These both sound a bit improvisational and hearken back to the late sixties, showing without a doubt the recent influences of several band members.

The CD reissue (unfortunately not remastered though) includes a handful of singles recorded after White left the band and was briefly replaced by Garth Watt-Roy (Living Daylights, Greatest Show on Earth, East of Eden). The production on these is a bit better, and a couple (“Double Time Woman” and “One More Hour”) were released as singles, presumably with the other two bonus tracks occupying their backsides. These are much lighter on organ, virtually devoid of bass and include horns. The sound is decidedly more AOR than the original album, and I suppose these were only included because the CD version had a lot more whitespace than the original forty minute vinyl version had.

No matter, this is a decent album that is representative of the early seventies heavy rock sound. It’s not too deep in the prog department though, but almost qualifies as proto-prog based on the various musicians’ backgrounds and it’s timing at the very end of the late sixties blues/psych musical era. Three stars and recommended as an interesting curio and as a nostalgic piece, but not as serious prog music.

peace

DOUBLE TIME WOMAN... I AM NOT SURE I AM DOUBLE!

After Andromeda disbanded Mick Hawksword (bass guitar) formed this Fuzzy Duck. Fuzzy Duck is, basically a Symphonic Heavy Prog band. In truth the only totally Prog song is the beautiful "Mrs. Prout", a great Jazz Rock song. For the rest great Symphonic Heavy Rock, melodic but extreme powerful. The bass of Hawksword, the drums of Paul Francis and the guitar (and voice) of Grahan White are the elements that formed the Fuzzy's sound with the insertion of Roy Sharland's organ. But the music, like Symphonic and melodic, are extreme exciting and technical. But the technical part of this music isn't heavy, because, vice versa, is the essence of Fuzzy Duck's music in the same manner of melody. After this album Graham White abbandoned Fuzzy Duck and with the insertion of Gart Watt Roy, Fuzzy Duck produced the single "Double Time Woman"/ "Just Look Around You". "Double Time Woman (present in the additional tracks section of Repertoire CD) isn't Prog. But, in my opinion, is a great song. Probably "Double Time Woman" is one of the 70's Rock evergreens.

wellwell...nice album. I'd liked the first tones i've heard it. but then more I listen to it, more dull it becomes. Album is rocking and grooving nicely but somehow I feel there is something missing. all the band members are doing fine job what comes to playing, but still... I don't know. Fuzzy remainds me lot of Uriah Heep and Deep Purple somehow... exspecially Uriah Heep. Organ player gets special bonus star from me. There are so little in here what I don't like, but on the other hand there are not too much that I celebrate in here either. Overall sound is still nice 70 's

This album has some of the most rocking swirling organs I have ever heard by the amazing Roy Sharland, who unfortunately never really did much that I know of.

The Guitarist (Graham White) is an amazing player who also unfortunately did nothing after Fuzzy Duck, if he did please tell me, because I've searched his name for hours.

Paul Francis, happens to be one of the funkiest drummers I have ever heard from a hard edged rock group, great use of pretty much everything, and his drumming just really stands out.

and last but not least, Mick Hawksworth, This guy really is one of the smoothest bass players I have ever heard and he really made my day when I heard this album for the first time.

This album starts off with the funky and rocking' (Time Will Be Your Doctor), funky drum riff takes off to perfectly accommodate the rocking' main riff, they brake off into a nice funky hard Latin groove, then the song just fly's with amazing vocals, guitar fills, swirling organ solos, and everything that makes a song unforgettable.

Mrs. Prout slowly works its way up to the top and then explodes with that driving fuzzy duck force, beautiful and haunting lyrics, and a great vocal job, I also dig the use of accents a lot.

"Just Look Around You" Is a lot more average then the other songs, something you might here from deep purple, but I dig The Duck more then Deep Purple, so yeah....On we go!

"Afternoon Out" is definitely the darkest song on the album, frightening and remorseful vocals, with imaginative and dark and remorseful lyrics, "Your works been done you've had your fun, Now leave!" It gives me chills every time.

"More Than I Am" is a funky rock song similar to a Purple tune as well...

"Country Boy" is a 6 minute example of perfection, thick awesome riffs, harmonized guitar licks, nice organ parts, one of the best guitar and organ solos on the album, and a really nice drum fill at about 3:04 on the song, this is definitely just one of my favorite songs on the album.

"In Our Time" is a rocking' tune with a beautiful bridge, more of those great swirling organs, and pretty nice guitar solo.

"A Word From The Big D" when my old friend put this song in, we laughed so hard for like 15 minutes, its hilarious amazing, I have no idea how Roy Sharland did the duck thing, but way to go! This song is the Fuzzy Duck theme, and is really worth the listen.

The Bonus tracks are complete crap, the production is lame, no one is playing very well, and even Mick Hawksworth sounds lame.

So basically I give this album 4 stars, for its amazing ness but its not quite perfect, few songs are weak but still deserve a listen, this band is one of the bands that should have made it in some way, at least to the popularity of Caravan, If this album was properly distributed I know for a fact they would have made it and released more amazing albums, probably stuff even way better than this.

i remember years back seeing this album somewhere, and wished i'd bought it then, but lp's were expensive and if you bought a "turkey" there was no refund facilities in retail shops in those days. i was probably too busy saving up for albums by purple, zeppelin, genesis and yes then anyway. i recently saw "fuzzy duck" reviewed on PA and advertised on the internet on cd and vinyl by italian firm "akarma", and bought the akarma vinyl and the cd version by "repertoire". regarding sound quality, overall it is very good but a bit rough in places, on tracks such as "just look around you" and afternoon out". i found the vinyl version to be much clearer overall than the repertoire cd, which sounded a bit overblown and slightly muddy in comparison. very musical and melodic, i found "mrs. prout" and "more than i am" to be the most outstanding tracks, the latter reminding me very strongly of atomic rooster. "time will be your doctor" is also a very good song, my sentiments entirely, time heals! side 2 has some interesting moments, especially the tongue-in-cheek "a word from big d" , punctuated with duck noises! the bonus tracks are ok also, but not outstanding. the guys sounded like they had a lot of fun recording this album, that comes across very clearly, it is a very enjoyable lp to listen to and will be a favourite of mine for some time to come. not a masterpiece of progressive rock but a very uplifting listen - an excellent addition for afficionados of early 70's art rock!

According to some people this is a little gem. I don't agree with them. Sure there is good music on this album (like Mrs. Prout and In Our Time). But for the most part of it, it just ranges from mediocre to acceptable rock music. It has a sound similar to Uriah Heep or Deep Purple, but the quality of the song writing is far less. The better parts of the album are the guitar solos (they are good) and the organ parts. The production of the album is good, but when the songs aren't then it is all just below par.

What are you doing here, Big D? "Fuzzy Duck" is a brilliant rock album, but I do not think that it has some appeal to prog-rock fans, with the exception of the heavy use of a Hammond organ at their arrangements. Fuzzy Duck was a short lived band but a very promising one, and it is a shame that they didn't last. "Fuzzy Duck" features a great mix of rock'n'roll, blues and some funk, making this album a perfect choice for early 70s rock fans. The songs are short, but sophisticated, and the arrangements are good, although there's little variation from a song to another. The bonus tracks are all good and features another version of Fuzzy Duck, with Garth Watt-Roy as a lead singer (he has an outstanding voice and is unjustly forgotten these days). Highlights: "Mrs. Prout", "Just Look Around You" and "No Name Face". If this wasn't a prog-rock site, I would give 4 stars to this album - but I cannot think of this one as an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

My friend bought a remastered CD of this album impulsively, as he heard it being played in a Swedish record shop. I found it also sounding quite nice, I loaned it and now I'll try to do a short review of it.

Though there are not any brass sections on this music, I think it otherwise somehow resembles the album by MOGUL THRASH. I guess it's the rhythm section (especially the opening of the first track) and the sound textures of the instruments which feel similar, and here the Hammond organs replace the horns in the compositions. "Mrs. Prout" is my favorite tracks on this album, and I found the joke "duck vocal" parts in the end very irritating.

I first gave this album four stars, as I truly like the music on it, but then I downgraded it to three... After all, I haven't much listened this album after I had discovered it, so I never got "extremely" exited about this. Maybe it's a good album to buy, but still not an essential one. Maybe I am not also a devoted Hammond enthusiastic, though I don't hate the tone of that instrument. In addition of Hammond maniacs, I would recommend this to the fans of URIAH HEEP and ATOMIC ROOSTER!

This is one of the many harder-edged and organ dominated progressive bands that emerged in the early Seventies. FUZZY DUCK's music is simple but it touches me very much: pleasant vocals, a tight rhythm-section, strong guitarwork and, the most delightful element, floods of Hammond organ. This reminds me of Ken Hensley from early URIAH HEEP and Manfred Wieczorke from German heavy progressive band JANE. The guitarplay is also a good point, featuring fiery solos and catchy riffs. The final song "A word from bid D" includes the so called 'ducking vocals' from keyboardplayer Roy (Daze) Sharland, very funny to hear. FUZZY DUCK's music has echoes from ATOMIC ROOSTER, SPENCER DAVIES GROUP, VANILLA FUDGE and QUATERMASS. If you like the Hammond organ, don't miss this CD! By the way, I own the "Aftermath" CD version, it contains 11 tracks, including the previously unreleased "No Name Face".

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Consistent and interesting album specially if we took into account that dates from 1971. It does not offer great surprises or new ideas in which to composition concerning; but it has to his favor that stays within an orthodox progressive rock of great quality. This is certain specially in the instrumental aspect. It contains passages shining of doubles and dialogues between guitar and Hammond organ, which without doubts will make the very happy life to audiófilo of this style. A good disc that will not bother in any collection, specially recommended for the unconditional ones of Atomic Rooster, Keef Hartley, Beggars Opera, Argent or similar bands.Good disc, 3,5 stars.