WHITE LADY

Do not expect anything like the other album. If their debut album is likely to please most Progheads and one can acquire it without much risk that they will not like it, this one should absolutely be heard before dishing out money for it. I am not saying that this is a bad album , but this sounds drastically different and IMO is not very prog. I don't know what Jackie Lomax was doing here and I have no idea why he got invited , here in this group , other than to cash in on the newcommer's fame. This has a star-studded guest list , and turns out to be a very brassy affair, that I never really had the urge to dive-in to discover the secrets. I guess that says it all.

After the promising start with One Live Badger, comes this dud. Really disappointing in every aspect. Only Kaye and drummer Roy Dyke remanined from the original line up. But the biggest change was in style: what once was prog influenced hard rock now is pure soul pop. And, unfortunatly even for the fans of that style of music, not a very good one. Not realy bad either but everything in this album reeks of commercialism, trying to reach the pop market of the time, when soul music was pretty much popular and fashionable.

The production of course is spotless. The musicians are superb (Jeff Beck and Allen Toussaint are among the many stars guesting on this record). And Jackie Lomax has a fine soul voice to match. And yet everything here sounds a bit forced and without much conviction. Tony Kaye´s playing is totally undistinguished through the whole LP. I can´t recommend this album to anyone but soul-pop-funk fans. Even Yes completionists will have a hard time trying to figure out what Kaye´s doing here. Thank God there was no follow up. 1,5 stars.

I witnessed a ''Badger'' concert in '73 (they were opening for one of the first ever Purple Mark III concert in Brussels I think). Since memory doesn't serve me at all to remember this event, I relied on their good live album to figure out what it could have been.

Needless to say that this one has nothing to do with it. Even if some soul influence could already be identified during their live album, this one is just a long trip into the Motown mood. Brass, syrupy vocals, weak melodies etc.

Of prog, there isn't a trace. Of good music, very little I'm afraid. To point out one outstanding song from this set is like to look for a miracle. But it never comes of course. I guess that the best advice is to stay far away from this very weak album.

There is no need to have a track by track review since each of them holds the same ''delightful'' sound. A long ''press next'' exercise from ''A Dream Of You '' (the opener) to ''The Whole Thing'' (the closing number). Pure soul music with no feeling at all.

Since I can't really find one single track worth mentioning, there are no reason to rate this album higher than with one solid star.

In late 1993, I bought Jackie Lomax`s first solo album from 1969 called "Is This What You Want?" (which was produced by George Harrison and released by Apple Records). I found it in a supermarket in the records section being sold at a very cheap price with also other albums by other artists from the Apple Records label (Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston, Badfinger, James Taylor, etc.) that were re-issued in 1991 on CD with bonus tracks. In fact the price was so cheap that I bought some of these Apple Records` CDs from these artists. I had the curiosity to listen to Lomax`s album because it was produced by Harrison and also because it has two tracks recorded with an all- star line-up (with three Beatles: Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney; Eric Clapton; Nicky Hopkins) and with one song composed by Harrison. Lomax was a friend from The Beatles and he was also managed briefly as a soloist by Brian Epstein, and when Epstein died and The Beatles founded Apple Records in 1968, Lomax was given then a recording contract with the label. He recorded only one album for Apple Records and several singles, all of which unfortunately for him were not very successful. He later recorded other 4 solo albums for other record labels during the seventies and a final solo album in 2004, without having much success, before his death in 2013. His only solo album for Apple Records is a mixture of Rock songs, Ballads, Pop Rock music from the sixties, with some psychedelic influences, and also with some Rhythm and Blues, Soul and Motown music influences. He was a good singer and composer.

BADGER`s first album ("One Live Badger", released in 1973) was recorded live in December 1972 and was produced by Jon Anderson. That first album is a good Prog Rock album well played and produced. But unfortunately that album was unsuccessful. I don`t know the full details, but for this second album from BADGER called "White Lady" from 1974, only keyboard player Tony Kaye and drummer Roy Dyke remained from their first line-up and their first album. The band also changed record label, and had Jackie Lomax as their new lead singer and rhythm guitarist, plus new bassist Kim Gardner and new lead guitarist Paul Pilnick . This, their second album, was produced by Allen Toussaint, who also plays some congas, piano and organ on some tracks. There is also a horns section added to most songs. The band also changed their original Prog Rock style to a new style which is a mixture of Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Rock Pop music, with even some Funky influences. With Lomax being the composer of all the songs in this album, it is not really unexpected that the songs sound influenced a lot from his work as soloist. It really sounds like BADGER became a vehicle for Lomax as a composer and singer, not really sounding very different from his first solo album (which is the only one album that I have listened from him as soloist), but with only updating his songwriting in sound for the commercial music of the mid-seventies. Jeff Beck plays a guitar solo on the title track, doing a good job. There are also some female backing vocals in some songs. The songs all sound in a similar style. As a whole the album is not bad. But this album is not a Prog Rock album. The musicians are good and they did a very professional job. Tony Kaye`s keyboard playing is good, adding some good organ and mellotron parts, but in some songs his keyboards really sound distant and more in the background. With this album, it seems that the BADGER`s band name was only used to give a commercial connection to a previous band with the same name and with a previous album in the market, but this new line-up really sounds very far from the original Prog Rock style the band had in their first album. There is not a real connection between both albums and line-ups apart from having Kaye and Dyke. Maybe they should have changed the name of the band for this second album. Maybe this album was even more unsuccessful than their first, so they did not record another album. Kaye later formed a new band in the mid- seventies called DETECTIVE which recorded three albums for LED ZEPPELIN`s Swan Song records label, with a more Hard Rock musical style, before they split in the late seventies, also without having much success.

A curious thing: apart from playing with Jackie Lomax in BADGER, Tony Kaye also played with another Apple Records` former band called Badfinger. But it was with a reformed Badfinger, playing with them between 1979 and 1981, and in fact recording with them their last album as a band called "Say No More", which was released in 1981. In 1983, while recording the "90125" album with YES, Kaye left YES for some months due to some problems with producer Trevor Horn and re-joined Badfinger for their last months as a band, returning to YES when he was asked to do it in late 1983. Kaye also played with Alan White in YES, a drummer who also had connections with The Beatles thanks to his work with John Lennon and George Harrison in some of their solo albums.

BADGER were a short-lived, British rock band with a soulful sound. They were founded by ex-YES keyboard player Tony Kaye. Badger's first album was a Live album titled "One Live Badger" (1973) (the clue is in the title) and this album "White Lady" (1974) is their only studio album. Badger's first album was in the Hard Rock genre, but this album "White Lady" was much more bluesy and soulful, due to the influence of singer Jackie Lomax, who wrote/co-wrote all ten songs on the album. The band also featured drummer Roy Dyke, of Ashton, Gardner & Dyke fame. The album was produced by the noted American musician, arranger and producer, Allen Toussaint. Jeff Beck made a guest appearance on the title track.

The album opens with "A Dream of You", a bluesy and soulful number in the style of Blood, Sweat & Tears, with some charming harmonising from the female backing singers. It's rock & roll with a heart full of soul, because this song has got SOUL in abundance! The song has a romantically passionate appeal, as these lyrics reveal:- "All I have to give, I'd give it all away for just a dream of you, All I ever knew, It doesn't mean anything beside a dream of you, Without a dream, Life is just a broken mirror, Without a dream of you, The way ahead don't get no clearer." It's All About Soul for the second song too with "Everybody - Nobody". It's a care-free song with a laid-back mellow groove, so if you approve, make a move, and get down into the groove. You can do a slow-dance to this groovy and breezy ballad, preferably with a romantic partner for company. "Listen To Me" the singer implores us with the next groovy ballad. It's a horny song (no, not THAT kind of horny) with the brass section sounding in fine fettle and having a blast. This song is oh-so-soulful with the sound of those lovely backing singers, they're together in perfect harmony, just like ebony and ivory, side by side on my piano, Oh Lord, why don't we..... but that's another song altogether. Onto Song No. 4 now and "Don't Pull the Trigger", a swinging and upbeat Jazzy number rooted in the blues, so what have you got to lose, put on those dancing shoes. It's "Just the Way It Goes" with the next number. This song is mellow, and it's all about a lonely old fellow, who's been given the elbow, and finds there's no pot of gold, at the end of the rainbow.

Opening Side Two, We now come to the title track, "White Lady", which features Jeff Beck on guitar. It's a soulful bluesy number which features the requisite guitar solo from Mr. Beck, and very good it is too, so take it away Jeff! "Be with You" is another song in the British blues tradition, but don't let that put you off, because it's also bright and brassy, groovy and soulful with a feel-good vibe. We're getting all religious now with Song No. 8, "Lord Who Give Me Life". Now this is the kind of uplifting spiritual music they SHOULD be playing in church. The vicar and his parishioners would be dancing down the aisle to this lively Jazzy number. Hallelujah brothers! There's "One More Dream To Hold" before we reach the end of the album. It's another nice slice of bluesy and soulful music with these imploring and heartfelt lyrics:- "Moaning pains in aeroplanes, Who's to blame in losing games, I really don't care anymore, Can't put myself there anymore, I really don't care anymore, It all goes by so fast and cold, Can I have one more dream to hold?" ..... This is British blues in the tradition of some of Paul Rodger's and Free's slower numbers, when they weren't rocking and rolling with "Alright Now" and "Wishing Well". It's time to get down and get funky now for the final song on the album, "The Hole Thing". It's a funky syncopated groove all about getting down and getting with it with your soul brothers, so shake your booty and get funky!

We're very much in Blood Sweat & Tears territory with "White Lady". This laid-back album of smooth and sophisticated Jazz- Rock is not in the slightest bit proggy, or even heavy, but if you're looking for a smooth and soulful slice of good old-fashioned British blues, blended with some bright and brassy horns, then this might be just the album for you, especially if you're looking for fun and feeling groovy.