BRAM STOKER

What a terrific lyric to start off this review! The sole Bram Stoker album `Schizo-Poltergeist' (at least that's what it's called on my version) is a wonderful heavy-prog stunner with endless waves of dazzling Hammond organ, fuzzy guitar and a good mix of instrumental virtuosity and varied melodic vocal tracks. The easiest similarity I could offer is along the lines of Atomic Rooster (and like the above quoted line, many of the lyrics have a slightly sinister tone with vague occult references), but with more classical influences like The Nice worked in as well. But anyone who enjoys those early prog albums from Bodkin, Rare Bird and Beggars Opera will likely find much to enjoy here.

Like the spooky gothic mansion depicted on the front cover, the identity of the players who performed on this album is shrouded in mystery, which just adds to the slight unease of the music. More research on the net offers the player details as Tony Bronsdon - Organ, Pete Ballam - Guitar, Rob Haines - Drums and John Bavin - Bass. Going by the strength of this album, all the players should be immensely proud of what they achieved here, as they have something of an obscure and underground near-classic with this work. So much potential, so it's a shame we only received this one sole release.

Of the vocal tracks, the stomping opener `Born To Be Free' kicks the album off in pure winning Atomic Rooster style, a fuzzy guitar/humming Hammond organ rocker about a girl `born on the wrong side of town, her every word was spit and bile'! With a killer chorus, the track is insanely catchy and gloriously upbeat, which contrasts strangely with the downbeat lyrics - something that Rooster did frequently themselves!

`Blitz' is the most serious and striking of the vocal pieces, a rather somber and unsettling tale that asks `Does anyone know about Mary, does anyone know where Mary is, she went to rescue the children...'. Throughout there's some moody plodding bass that highlights the kind of creeping loneliness and reflective tone of the words, with some dark murky Spanish guitar worked in to stirring effect later on.

`Idiot' has a slightly cheesy chorus, but fans of the first Beggars Opera album `Act One' will enjoy this one, as it shares that same kind of maniacal circus-like loopy energy and charm. The finale `Poltergeist' is all bombastic Hammer-horror drama, but the booming and kitschy repeated chorus is a little lazy.

`Ants' gets the first of three instrumental pieces off to a grand start, with classical ELP/Trace/Nice- style dazzling organ work, by way of a ghost story/horror house setting, plus some nice rapid fire drumming too. `Fast Decay' carries on the same way, while incorporating sections of Bach's Toccata In D-Fuga (sure to embarrass or infuriate some listeners!), but the relentless bass galloping away throughout is a real highlight. `Fingals Cave', apparently another classical interpretation, works wonderfully too, all spiraling organ, commanding drumming and searing electric guitar runs. There's a lovely jazzy lightness to parts of it as well.

So you've got eight tracks, three superb instrumental pieces overloaded with pure Hammond fire, and five vocal tracks, three of which are terrific, and two that are a little daggy but still very enjoyable. As the album is beautifully produced too, taking all of these things into consideration you have a wonderful album that is well worth tracking down. Any fans of the above mentioned bands will greatly enjoy this one, and it can proudly be placed alongside those same artists/albums to complement them perfectly.

An easy four stars, please try and track down a copy!

As befits a band with their enigmatic name and style not much is known about them. A bit of Googling found that the T Bronsdon credited with the material and excellent keyboards is Tony Bronsdon, and that the band originated from the south coast of England (Bournemouth area). The other members are listed as Pete Ballam - guitars and vocals, Bob Haines - drums and percussion, Jon Bavin - bass and vocals.

The album is often presumed to have been a session man cash-in effort to capitalise on the early 70s prog boom. The fact that it was issued on the cut price Windmill imprint owned by those well known purveyors of prog Woolworths probably contributed to this belief. They never got signed to a major label which is a great shame as they certainly show lots of talent and potential here.

The stand out tracks for me include 'Blitz' which tells the haunting story of a man whose wife dies in a World War Two bombing raid.

'Poltergeist' is also excellent, again managing to conjure up an extremely doomy and oppressive atmosphere.

'Extensive Corrosion' (maybe Mr Bronsdon's car was playing up that week) has a great middle section with a combined piano/organ riff followed by some blazing Hammond soloing that Emerson at his peak would have been proud of.

'Fingal's Cave' is a lengthy classical adaptatation which, while not exactly an adventurous choice, is very well done.

The album does not cover ground that other bands hadn't already, but it's never less than well-performed and imaginatively played. The main reason to get it is the keyboard work, which is of a very high standard throughout.

The eight melodic and dynamic compositions are Hammond organ drenched, the electric guitar is often distorted (fuzz) delivering some fiery soli but in general it is on the background. Bram Stoker their sound has elements from Atomic Rooster (Born to be free), ELP (Fast decay) and often Beggar's Opera, mainly due to the classical organ sound (for example Bach's Toccata In D-Fuga in Fast Decay and the long Fingal's Cave) and the pleasant vocals. The track Blitz has some Spanish flavored guitar undertones and sounds a bit dark. The final, horror-like song Poltergeist features floods of classical inspired organ.

IF YOU LIKE HAMMOND DRENCHED SEVENTIES PROGROCK, I HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THIS CD!!