Album: Helluvaband

Year: 1976

I discovered this band on the radio, I was listening to a rock show with progressive hardrock bands (between 1973 and 1976 my favorite category) and when I heard Angel I was blown away!

This is Angel their second effort, enjoy their powerful and exciting sound, loaded with biting guitar - and flashy Minimoog solos and topped by great vocals! Musically you can split this album into two sections. First straightforward R&R-inspired songs like Anyway You Want It, Dr. Ice, Pressure Point and Chicken Soup with excellent ‘head-to-tail’ work on guitar and keyboards and powerful vocals. And second a section with songs that sound as very interesting Heavo Prog like The Fortune, one of the most compelling Heavy Prog songs I have ever heard: first a wonderful keyboard intro featuring majestic choir-Mellotron waves, a soaring string-ensemble sound and slow synthesizer flights, then lots of shifting moods, from twanging acoustic guitar with melancholical vocals to bombastic with excellent singing, fiery guitar and an eruption with fat Minimoog flights, what a tension and dynamics! Other strong compositions are Feelings (a sparkling Grand piano intro, then a slow rhythm with a wonderful harmony between vocals, guitar and piano and in the end a howling electric guitar solo) and Mirrors (great propulsive guitar riff, like Led Zep’s Immigrant Song, with outstanding vocals and biting electric guitar). At one moment Angel sounds like a hardrock band, at other moments as very intereting Heavy Prog!

 

Band: Journey (USA)

Album: Journey

Year: 1974

I remember vividly how thrilled I was to read that former Santana members Gregg Rolie and Neil Schonn (just listen to Caravanserai) had founded a new band with drummer Aynsley Dunbar (ex-Zappa), this was a new ‘supergroup’ and the expectations were high.

For me Journey their eponymous debut album is still their best effort, here they sound as an exciting, very progressive blend of several styles, from rock and blues to jazzrock. Their trademark is the combination of the heavy guitar work by Neal Schonn (biting and howling with frequent use of the wah-wah pedal), the often furious drumming by Aynsley Dunbar and the very distinctive vocals with that melancholical undertone by Gregg Rolie, especially in tracks like Of A Lifetime (great build-up and grand finale), the alternating intrumental Topaz (from swinging Fender Rhodes piano to biting wah-wah guitar) and the final track Mystery Mountain (great interplay between organ, guitar and drums). The other four track are worth a listening session: In The Morning Day delivers halfway a spectacular break with echo-effects, swirling Hammond and blistering guitar, the intrumental Kohoutek has an ominous atmospehre, a strong build-up and a sensational Minimoog solo and In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations contains lush Hammond organ, a dynamic rhythm-section and biting, wah-wah drenched guitar, this is the typical early Journey sound!

 

Band: Cozy Powell (UK)

Album: Over The Top

Year: 1979

In the late Seventies I was very much into jazzrock sounding music like JL Ponty, Al DiMeola, Jeff Beck and Colosseum II so it was no surprise that I stumbled upon Cozy Powell, on this first solo album many contributions are by musicians that have played with the aforementioned bands.

On Over The Top we can enjoy a super powerhouse rhythm-section featuring the late drummer Cozy Powell and ex-Cream bass player Jack Bruce, what a powerful and dynamic sound, especially on Theme I and El Sid! The keyboard sound is also very exciting, delivered by Max Middleton and Don Airey, from mellow Fender Rhodes electric piano and sparkling Grand piano to lots of flashy Minimoog flights, symptuous classical orchestrations and UK-like synthesizer sounds because of the use of the mighty Yamaha CS-80. Some songs sound similar to Colosseum II because of the interplay between their ex-members Don Airey and Gary Moore. It’s ‘blues time’ in The Loner (dedicated to Jeff Beck) with moving work on guitar and piano and a pitchbend-driven Minimoog solo in the end. But the most interesting and perhaps most progressive composition is the titletrack: it opens with a swinging rhythm and excellent, then varied and exciting work on keyboards and halfway Cozy starts a drum solo, soon accompanied by bombastic classical orchestrations (lots of woodwinds and brass) on the Yamaha and Moog synthesizer, the build-up and grand finale is great, I will remember Cozy Powell forever as the composer of this composition, close to the level of Classic Prog!

 

 

Year: 1975

- I had the idea that Angel their second album entitled Helluvaband (that I reviewed yesterday in this thread) was more progressive but today I listened to their eponymous debut LP and I am delighted this debut album! Keyboardplayer Greg Giuffria (who looks like a member of other USA band The New York Dolls) ownes an impressive array of vintage keyboards and he colours almost every of the eights songs very tastefully.

- The album starts with the hit single Mirrors, this was my introduction to the sound of Angel and I am still blown away by the huge tension between the mellow parts (with flute- and choir-Mellotron and twanging guitars) and the bombastic pieces (with fat Minimoog flights, fiery electric guitar runs and dynamic drums), topped by Frank Dimino his excellent vocals, what a wide range his voice has! Then my highlight of this album, the long composition Long Time (at about 7 minutes): the intro contains violin – and flute-Mellotron, blended with warm vocals, then a slow rhythm with an omnipresent Mellotron along harpsichord  and sensitive electric guitar, halfway interrupted by a powerful break with R&R guitar. Again the vocals lift the song to a higher level! Another wonderful song is the ballad Mariner with warm Grand piano play, emotional vocals, floods of beautiful Mellotron waves and halfway a swinging piano. The other five tracks are rock-oriented but less straightforward than on the second album, I notice more inventive arrangements with exciting vintage keyboards like bombastic Hammond organ, spectacular Minimoog flights and majestic Mellotron waves, especially the final song Angel (Theme) featuring a slow rhythm with all Mellotron sections (flute/violin/choir) and fat synthesizer runs, goose bumps!

Band: JOURNEY (USA)

Title: Next

Year: 1977

- After their outstanding eponymous debut album, the successor Look Into The Future (1976) was a bit disappointing musical experience for me but Journey took revenge with their third album entitled Next. Remarkably are the bluesy overtones, this fits perfectly with Gregg Rolie his a bit melancholical vocals and Neal Schonn his moving guitarwork like in Spaceman (biting guitar outbursts), I Would Find You (howling guitar in the end) and the final song Karma (wah-wah guitar). But the great thing on Next is the development of early Journey their trademark: a slow rhythm and a bit sultry atmosphere that gradually becomes more bombastic, culminating in excellent interplay between Neal Schonn his powerful guitarplay and Aynsley Dunbar his furious drumming, often layered with sensational Minimoog flights or spectacular biting-guitar/flashy Minimoog duels like in People and the great instrumental track Nickel And Dime, how exciting! The keyboard work by Gregg Rolie is very tasteful, ranging from mellow Fender Rhodes electric piano and bombastic Hammond organ runs to spacey keyboards (in the Vangelis-like intro if I Would Find You) and those aforementioned spectacular Minimoog flights.

- After this strong third effort the line-up would change radically, as their sound did!

 

In the forthcoming weeks I intend to write about The Tubes (compilation 2-CD), The Stranglers (live album with Steve Hillage and Robert Fripp), David Bowie, Love, The Rolling Stones and Dutch bands Golden Earring and Aemen.