OPERATION

A rough take on the bluesy hard prog that Birth Control would refine further on the subsequent Hoodoo Man - it even shares that album's style in grotesque cover art. Here, however, I feel like Birth Control's sound hasn't yet come together. Reinjhold Sobotta is OK on keyboards, but I feel like Wolfgang Neuser's performance on Hoodoo Man is superior - in fact, it was rather key to my enjoyment of that album, and I'm really feeling his absence here. This is OK if you really like the early Uriah Heep and Deep Purple style, but even then I'm not sure why you would put this album on if you had the better releases by those bands (or Hoodoo Man) to hand.