SUGARLOAF

SUGARLOAF are from Colorado in the USA and are pretty much known as a one-hit-wonder because of the opening track "Green-Eyed Lady". This is their debut from 1970 and it's very much hit and miss for me and mostly the latter. I give it 3 stars though because of that opening song which has been a favourite of mine as long as I can remember. And really there's nothing on this album that sounds even close to "Green-Eyed Lady", it's like we get a different band for the rest of the album.

"Green-Eyed Lady" is an absolutely incredible track where i'm blown away by the drumming and bass work. Ditto for the organ play of band leader Jerry Corbetta who is also the singer. Such a proggy track and it has special meaning since i've been hanging out with a beautiful green-eyed lady for many years. Nice organ solo before 3 1/2 minutes then the guitar comes to the fore tastefully. It's awesome to have the almost 7 minute album version of this track because I never want it to end. "The Train Kept-A-Rollin" is a short instrumental cover of THE YARDBIRDS track. Yeah it's okay. "Medley : Bach Doors Man / Chest Fever" opens with an organ solo of that Bach tune reminding me of ELP before blending into another instrumental cover of THE BAND's "Chest Fever". Again this is all okay but does little for me.

"West Of Tomorrow" is a return of the vocals for the first time since the opening song. The organ is again prominant including a solo. It's a little dated but not bad. "Gold And The Blues" is pure blues with the organ, drums and guitar standing out. It's an instrumental and pretty good if your into the blues. I especially like the guitar. "Things Gonna Change Some" is my second favourite track. It's a vocal tune that has some tempo changes. A feel good song for me. I like the instrumental section in the middle where the guitar comes to the fore.

A good album I suppose but yeah one-hit-wonders is a deserved title for this band unfortunately.

It's quite funny to me knowing this band only from a pop music compilation cassette sometime in mid seventies with a very good song titled as "Don't Call Us, We Call You". I knew that the name of the band who played it, Sugarloaf, must be the one who played rock music as I looked at the riffs from that pop song. I then finally traced back the background of the band and thanks to the internet that finally I knew a bit history of the band whom they named it as Chocolate Hair prior obtaining contract to record their debut album in 1970. The story about the band indeed is about the vocalist and keyboardist vocalist and keyboardist Jerry Corbetta who met with guitarist Bob Webber of the Moonrakers; the other initial bandmembers were drummer Bob MacVittie and rhythm guitarist Veeder Van Dorn III, also from the Moonrakers, plus bassist Bob Raymond. They changed their name to Sugarloaf, a mountain in Colorado.

This debut album from 1970 is good to me as the music is still raw an it represents the seventies music in terms of guitar riffs and fills as well as keyboard work. It opens with their top hit song (no. 3 in the US) Green-Eyed Lady where the music is really vintage and I can sense a very dynamic riffs and good keyboard work. The band also play the Medley: Bach Doors Man / Chest Fever nicely and it has a very good combination of solo keyboard / hammond combined with guitar. The drum work sounds raw and it's nice hearing this old school classic rock. The long keyboard work and guitar rhythm section has made this song sounds interesting to my ear. West of Tomorrow starts with simple basslines followed with vocal line and the music moves in medium tempo. Gold and the Blues is really an excellent instrumental blues track with great keyboard / hammond work and raw guitar work. I sometime make this track as my one of my playlist in enjoying blues music. The guitar playing, basslines and drum beats are all really nice. After a long guitar solo the track then enters the hammond solo. It's really nice! Things Gonna Change Some is another good track in psychedelic style.

Overall, it's a very good album and recommended to those of you who like vintage rock music and do not expect much prog at all. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW