Every once in awhile I stumble upon a CD that is a pure joy to listen to from start to finish, one I can’t stop listening to, where I can’t get the music out of my head even long after the banality of life has forced me to remove my headphones. Uli Jon Roth’s Metamorphosis is such a CD—an aural treat from start to finish, pure ear candy!
Uli Jon Roth got his start in the German metal band, Scorpions, back in 1972. During his six year tenure in Scorpions he displayed a strong Jimi Hendrix influence and both psychedelic and neo-classical tendencies which eventually led to his departure from Scorpions in 1978 to pursue a solo career that would allow him to stretch out in ways he hadn’t been able to within the context of his former band.
Initially Roth struggled to find himself musically walking a tightrope between his Hendrix influenced psychadelia and neo-classicism. But in the first few years of the new millennium he finally seemed to find a style that suited him perfectly, an interesting fusion of psychadelia, heavy metal, and neo-classicism. It’s in Metamorphosis that Roth’s fusion of those styles was fully realized.
Metamorphosis is Roth’s “interpretation” of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Backed by the fifteen-piece Sky Orchestra, Roth is at his absolute best in this brilliant fusion of musical styles. He has a sense of melody and adventure, putting his own spin on Vivaldi, making it sound new and fresh, as if it were written today and not in 1723. The first 13 tracks feature Roth sticking close to Vivaldi’s original and the final 14 tracks feature Roth’s re-imagining/re-interpretation of Vivaldi’s work, which at times sounds reminiscent of some of the more familiar work of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. But the album is best enjoyed when listening start to finish without interruption—or at least the first 13 or final 13 tracks should be listened to in single sittings.
The only drawback to this exceptional CD; and it’s one that’s, quite fortunately, easy to completely ignore are the spoken word intros to several of the pieces. Roth was/is a consummate flower child, and his neo-hippy spoken word intros don’t really add anything to the exceptional music, and without headphones they’re often not even audible over the nature sound effects Roth used for “background” during those intros.
This CD does beg the question, what more musical adventures does Roth have up his sleeves, and when can we expect another brilliant offering such as this one? Hopefully, this isn’t an isolated occurrence for Roth as he’s truly found his musical niche.
In the early eighties bands like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Asia, and Survivor not only dominated the airwaves but also filled arenas with their special blend of AOR.
A bit heavier than their contemporaries—Journey and REO Speedwagon, Survivor really burst onto the scene with a little help from Stallone and their hit Eye of the Tiger which was used prominently in Rocky III.
Caught In the Game has gone largely overlooked or forgotten by the band and by radio. None of the tracks from this album have even appeared on any of Survivor’s multiple different “Greatest Hits” or “Best Of” collections.
This oversight is quite unfortunate as Caught In the Game is likely Survivor’s most consistently strong album from start to finish. The songs are catchy and have a bit more bite than the lesser tracks from their previous albums.
The album opens with the title track, an infectiously catchy rocker and other than the ballad I Never Stopped Loving You the album doesn’t really let up from start to finish. And even that lone ballad is the 3rd track—thus getting it out of the way early—before reverting to the more mid and uptempo rockers that allowed guitarist Frankie Sullivan to cut loose a bit more.
Survivor ended up saving the best for last with the album’s closer, Santa Ana Winds, one of the best tracks the band ever recorded. With guitar solos vaguely reminiscent of some of Blue Oyster Cult’s better material of the previous decade, Bickler’s soulful vocals and the keys of Jim Peterik the song is strong from start to finish.
Today, admittedly this album sounds somewhat dated, a relic or snapshot of the early eighties. But in the context of its time, this was easily one of the better albums released in 1983. It was much to the listening public’s detriment that radio didn’t give it more attention.
(Incidentally this was David Bickler's final album with the band. After leaving for medical reasons he was replaced by Jimi Jamison. Bickler did re-join in 1992, only to be replaced in 2000 by... Jimi Jamison. Today Survivor's lead singer is Robyn McAuley. Bickler today can be heard in Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials)
In 1983 songwriters Billy Steinberg (guitar/vocals) and Tom Kelly (guitar/keyboards/vocals) formed the short-lived hard rock/AOR band I-Ten.
Steinberg and Kelly have quite an impressive resume as songwriters, having penned the hits Alone for Heart and Like a Prayer for Madonna among several others they had significant cred in the music industry.
Although MTV was still in its infancy, video had already killed the radio star... If this album had been released in the pre-image concious age of music videos, it very likely would have been a hit.
As it is, 3 of the songs on this album ended up being covered by other bands-- the aforementioned Alone became a hit for Heart, Taking a Cold Look was shortened to Cold Look and covered by Canadian hard rockers, Honeymoon Suite, and I Don't Want to Lose You showed up as a bonus track on REO Speedwagon's The Hits.
The original versions have a certain fire in them that, aside from Heart's Alone, is sorely lacking in the cover versions perpetrated by other artists. Steinberg and Kelly's vocals, while not extraordinary, are certainly of a professional calibre that warrants taking them seriously and giving them further consideration than they ended up receiving.
This album seems to go in and out of print. When in print it's in the steep but reasonable $20 range (or used for only $12) when out of print I've seen it listing over $100!! I recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to get this album while it's in print at a much more reasonable cost. This album is a musical time capsule of all that was GOOD about music in the early eighties. For the quality of music on this album, it remains somewhat of a mystery to me why I-Ten weren't more well received at the time of this release. If the opportunity to listen to this lost gem ever presents itself to you, by all means open your ears, close your eyes, turn up the volume and enjoy!
Debut solo albums by former members of notable groups tend to come in one of two varieties-- restrained and tentative or explosive brilliant bursts of creative energy.
After his tremendous success in Supertramp, Roger launched his solo career with this creative explosion of a debut. Not only did Roger write, arrange, and produce his debut he also played most of the instruments. This is a solo album in one of the purest senses of the word.
The album opens with ambitious and cynical eight plus minute Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy). There was a single edit, however it barely cracked the Billboard charts. This is likely because any editing of the song would do/did do it a huge disservice. The song is best enjoyed in its entirety, as are all seven of the songs on this rather auspicious album.
The album then shifts to In Jeopardy which at times hints at the Greg Kihn band hit from a year or two before this album's release... That is to say it sounds like how the Greg Kihn hit might have sounded had it been recorded by Supertramp instead of the Greg Kihn Band. Despite the similarities it is a different song that hints and insinuates the other song without ever really plagiarizing it.
Lovers in the Wind is the album's shortest song at four minutes, thirteen seconds. It has a slow building piano intro reminiscent of Fools Overture from Supertramp's Even In the Quietest Moments. The vocals are also reminiscent of Fools Overture. There's a wistful melancholy undercurrent throughout the song that keeps in line with Hodgson's at time biting and cynical and other times laidback and melancholy vibe on this album.
Hooked on a Problem and Give Me Love, Give Me Like sound like they could have come straight off of Supertramp's Crisis? What Crisis?! Hints of Sister Moonshine and A Soapbox Opera are evident on both songs and musically it is from the same vein of most of the material from that album.
I'm Not Afraid sounds like Roger picking up right where he left off with Supertramp on Famous Last Words. There are hints of Crazy that can be heard at different times throughout the song.
The album closes with the haunting melancholy of Only Because of You. The song shows off Roger's multiple talents (vocalist, keyboardist, arranger, percussionist, songwriter, producer, etc.) Perhaps moreso than any other song on the album this is an example of all of those talents coming together just right. Musically it's also an excellent bookend for the album. It complements the opener, Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy) quite beautifully and gives the listener sense of coming full circle and gives the album a sense of completion.
As already stated, the Supertramp influence throughout the album is unmistakable to the point where it could easily be argued that Roger sounds more like Supertramp after leaving the band than they sounded after continuing on without him. All that's missing are the trademark Davies/Hodgson collaborations that made those albums so enjoyable. And given the somewhat divergent direction that Supertramp went following Roger's departure evidence would indicate that he was largely responsible for their trademark sound. Their sound suffered more from his departure than his sound/style did.
Despite having only seven songs, the album clocks in at just over seven minutes. Only one of the songs falls under five minutes with several being over six minutes and a couple are even over eight minutes long. While not progressive rock in the purest sense of the word the album could certainly be described as progressive pop-- the somewhat more accessible "little brother" to prog rock.
Unfortunately, Roger's 1987 follow-up Hai Hai would lack the brilliance and creativity of his debut and an injury would curtail his career until the late 90s. Thankfully he finally did show a return to form in 2000 with Open the Door.
While Roger's career in Supertramp is still well respected his solo career, given its sporadic nature, has gone largely forgotten by all but his most die-hard fans since his departure from the band.
This album is a "must-have" for any fan of Supertramp and it's even a little bittersweet as one wonders what material they could have continued recording had Roger never parted ways with them and its easily better than any of their post-Roger output.
While they were fixtures of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene of the late sixties, time has not been kind to the Chocolate Watchband. Today they remain largely forgotten by all but the more avid listeners of music from this period.
For those unfamiliar—close your eyes and imagine the Rolling Stones… now picture a runaway freight train ramming the Stones through a mushroom clouded prism of psychedelia. That sound is the Chocolate Watchband.
Their music has not stood the test of time as well as some of their contemporaries largely because, other than a very small handful of bands from that era, psychedelia burnt out (like many of the musicians who performed it) within a relatively short span of time. Its popularity was not sustained and the spaced out trippy keyboard sounds remain relics of the bygone era in which the music was originally recorded.
There was a definite Stones influence that was especially evident on songs like Come On (which sounds so reminiscent of the Stones you might even check the liner notes to make sure it’s NOT Mick Jagger singing). And speaking of the Stones, these guys had a rather huge pair—it takes a pair to tackle music as diverse as the aforementioned Stones influenced Come On to the Wilson Pickett staple In the Midnight Hour to the spacey Pink Floyd-esque instrumental Dark Side of the Mushroom (which predates PF’s Dark Side of the Moon by several years).
If these guys had adapted and changed with the changing times they likely would today be mentioned in the same breath as guys like Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Pink Floyd, and other bands that today get name-dropped like jelly-beans into a musical Easter Basket. The talent was there, but perhaps the vision was not. As quickly as they appeared and were noticed, they had disappeared.
Today No Way Out is a time capsule of the Summer of Love—and it’s one of the better (if lesser known) capsules of that era. The most dated of their songs Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In) is catchy upbeat and features more of those Mick Jagger-esque vocals that the band was known for in their prime. The album is enjoyable from start to finish with not a weak track on it not to mention a seminal album of its era and of the psychedelic genre.
Aside from their self-titled sophomore album Blood Sweat & Tears struggled under the vocal leadership of David Clayton-Thomas. While largely forgotten, the Jerry Fisher era of Blood Sweat & Tears was an all too brief breath of fresh air at just the right time. 1972’s New Blood marks Fisher’s first foray on lead vocals for BS&T.
His vocals are more on the soulful and less on the crooning end of the spectrum. And while New Blood exhibits the classic BS&T sound Fisher’s vocals give their material more of a New Orleans/Dixieland jazz vibe than Clayton-Thomas’s vocals did.
While there are no big hits and much of the material would largely be unrecognizable to all but the most seasoned of BS&T’s fans the music is quite enjoyable from Down In the Flood to I Can’t Move No Mountains to the amusing take on aging, Over the Hill, to the melancholic So Long Dixie. While the material still is not as strong as on the band’s debut, Child Is Father to the Man, it’s easily their best material since then.
The album closes with Snow Queen/Maiden Voyage an eleven and a half minute musical adventure allowing Fisher to stretch out his vocals and giving the horns plenty of time to show what they’re capable of. Despite it’s length it remains one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album.
While compared to other Blood Sweat & Tears albums New Blood certainly stands up well, perhaps its greatest flaw is that it has not aged as well as other material from the early seventies. The sound is so dated that if you close your eyes and just listen perhaps you might open them to find yourself in 1972. Which, depending on your personal proclivities may or may not be a bad thing.
After a string of double-LP releases and the arguably over-ambitious quadruple-LP live album, Live at Carnegie Hall, Chicago released their first regular length album.What arguably sets V apart from many of Chicago’s subsequent albums, the band crams as much creativity and talent into this single-player as they had into Chicago III, which had its moments but also could have benefitted from a bit of editing.
The album opens with the Lamm penned A Hit by Varèse.An enjoyable musical excursion that shows a band firing on all cylinders musically and lyrically laments Lamm’s boredom with the music of the day and his thirst for something more adventurous… and that something more adventurous is exactly what the band delivers on this track.
The band changes gears slightly on All Is Well which features a sublime horn chart and a thoroughly enjoyable melody and some of Chicago’s tighter vocal harmonies in an era in which they were arguably known far more for their musicianship, musical adventurousness, and instrumental prowess than their vocal harmonizing capabilities.
Why Now That You’ve Gone was never released as a single is beyond me.It’s easily one of Chicago’s best album cuts ever, bar none.Starting with some solid and infectious drumming by Danny Seraphine, Robert Lamm’s organ and Terry Kath’s rhythm guitar follow shortly thereafter, followed by the horns, and Terry’s vocals.The rhythm grabs you by the short and curlies, the horns get a death grip on your soul, and Terry’s souful vocal guides you through this catchy musical journey.If this had been released as a single it would have been a nice counter balance to their later string of soft-rock saccharine-driven tight melodic late seventies and early eighties soft rock staples.
Lamm’s socially conscious Dialogue Pts. 1&2 follows.The song is a conversation betweena socially conscious ideologue (sung by Terry Kath) and an out of touch student who is just going with the flow (sung by Peter Cetera).While the horns are present on Dialoge Pt. 1, it’s much more notable for the tight rhythmic chemistry between Kath, Cetera, and Seraphine and features some of Peter’s finest bass playing.In later years Peter of course became much more known for his vocals, but throughout Chicago and predominantly on this and songs like State of the Union, Peter’s melodic style and bass-playing chops are quite evident.Dialogue Pt. 2 is more of an instrumental showcase than vocal showcase but also features some tight vocal harmonies from both Terry and Peter.
The album does not let up on While the City Sleeps featuring Robert trading his lead vocals with a tight harmony vocal led by Peter Cetera.The song also features what might be an otherwise overlooked Terry Kath guitar solo with the horns offering a soft musical carpet to layer his guitar over.The juxtaposition of Terry’s raw guitar against the smooth horns draws greater attention to both the horn chart and to Terry’s solo.The only complaint one might have of this song is that the ending is somewhat abrupt and anti-climatic.
Saturday In the Park was the opener on side 2 of the LP.It’s an excellent opening track and on the CD release it feels somewhat lost in the middle, sandwiched between While the City Sleeps and State of the Union.It’s success as a single is a testament to its popularity.It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and un-offensive track about spending a Saturday in Central Park that happened to fall on the fourth of July (which would insinuate the song was written in 1970, the most recent Saturday to have fallen on the fourth of July at the time of the song’s release).
State of the Union is one of Lamm’s socio-political gems.Musically speaking it’s an excellent song, Peter shines both on vocals and on bass.The horn chart is one of the best on the album (although, in all fairness, I’d argue there’s not a weak horn chart on the album).Terry’s rhythm playing is also enjoyable but (at least on the Rhino re-release) has been pushed more to the back of the mix in favor of bringing Peter’s bass and the horns closer to the front of the mix and making them considerably more noticeable.
Goodbye is another example of a band firing on all cylinders and all the pieces coming into place just right.The song is a look back on the previous few years of the band’s existence and a farewell of sorts to Los Angeles (Chicago V was recorded largely in NY and the next several albums would be recorded at producer, James William Guercio’s Caribou Ranch in the Colorado Rockies).The song is good throughout but really hits its stride at about the 3:37 mark (“Feels so good to be soaring, ‘Cause LA was so boring, Goodbye”) and then again at about the 4:06 mark a musical reprise of sorts (“There must be room for growing, somewhere else, and I’m going, Goodbye”).Between this and the aforementioned A Hit by Varèse, there’s a definite vibe a band that’s creatively restless and hungering for a change of scenery both literal and figurative to re-fill their creative juices.
The LP closed with Alma Mater, a somewhat more elegiac and mournful look at the previous few years.The vocal harmonies are tighter on this song than perhaps any other.From start to finish Chicago V, in addition to being a creative triumph is possibly the band’s most consistently lyrically autobiographical album.Alma Mater is also a look to the future—“We must set new goals, we must not lose control of the possibility, of finding the discovery, that would let everybody see, that we were just meant to be”).
The 2002 Rhino re-release continues the musical journey with an instrumental version of A Song For Richard and His Friends, a song that had previously only appeared on Chicago Live @ Carnegie Hall release.It was and perhaps remains Lamm’s most outspoken middle finger at the establishment song ever.A song whose somewhat prophetic lyrics begged for Richard Nixon to quit… In 1971, over three years before he actually did.The instrumental version includes a heavily distorted Terry Kath guitar solo.Stripping away the lyrics the song does get a bit of new life as it allows the listener to focus more on the music and less on Lamm’s politics.The horns are slightly out of tune, on purpose (I’m guessing) as a reflection of the discord (or would it be dis-“chord”) felt at the time in which the song was written.While the instrumental does certainly have its moments, chances are it would largely be skipped over by the casual listener and only the more devoted of the fans would take the time to give it a fair listen.Trying to be objective, the inclusion on the re-release neither adds to nor subtracts from the album with its inclusion.
The re-release also features an early arrangement Mississippi Delta City Blues a song that the band had played in their early days on the Chicago club circuit before relocating to L.A. and would later appear with a somewhat different (and arguably better) arrangement on Chicago XI, Terry Kath’s final album with the band.
The last cookie that Rhino tossed the fans on the re-release was the single-edit of Dialogue Pts. 1 & 2.Its inclusion is somewhat unnecessary as a sizable chunk of the song was removed for the single edit (over two minutes).
Between 1969 and 1972, Chicago released 3 double LPs, a quadruple LP live album (Live at Carnegie Hall), a double LP live album (Live in Japan), and this album.In hindsight one might argue that the band essentially “blew their load” on these releases.And certainly an argument could have been made for them to have better paced themselves as subsequent albums displayed a noticeable drop in quality and a shift in direction from being musically adventurous to being more pop-friendly.With that in mind, Chicago V marks the end of an era.There would still be occasional flashes of the creativity and adventurousness displayed in this era, but as time progressed those flashes of creativity and adventurousness grew increasingly fewer and farther between.
How many bands do you know of that have released three consecutive double albums within the space of two years?Between 1969 and 1971 Chicago released 3 double LP studio albums and a quadruple LP live album. That's the equivalent of 10 albums worth of material in less than 3 years! It's a staggering musical statement by any estimation.
And while later albums certainly displayed glimpses of the creativity and musical talent of this period in the band’s tenure, none of them quite matched the consistently high quality of the first three albums.
Chicago III starts with Sing a Mean Tune Kid, a musical tribute of sorts to those which came before them and paved their way.It features a blistering guitar solo by Terry Kath, not to mention it exhibits a strong musical chemistry between Kath’s guitar and the keyboard/organ playing of Robert Lamm.
As Sing a Mean Tune Kid fades out it’s replaced by Loneliness Is Just A Word, a song the band had been playing since their days paying their dues on the Chicago club scene prior to their move to Los Angeles.The Chicago III version is of course considerably more polished and well rounded than the earlier version, thanks largely to the superlative production of James William Guercio.
Perhaps what sets Chicago III apart from their debut or Chicago II are the occasional country-influenced flourishes on songs like What Else Can I Say or Flight 602, perhaps giving the clearest example of the direction Peter would inevitably steer his career following his departure from Chicago.Terry’s guitar also shines front and center a few tracks later on I Don’t Want Your Money.
On the remastered 2002 Rhino re-release, Peter Cetera’s bass playing is particularly audible (incidentally, Rhino did an excellent job on bringing Peter’s bass-playing closer to the front of the mix on all of their Chicago re-issues).
Much like on Chicago II which featured the multi-part It Better End Soon anti-Vietnam anthem and the Ballet For a Girl in Buchannon (the latter of which spawned two of Chicago’s more memorable hits, Make Me Smile and Colour My World), Chicago III features the multi-part Travel Suite, An Hour In the Shower, and Elegy.All three pieces have their moments, Travel Suite features a fast-paced Danny Seraphine drum solo, Motorboat to Mars, the aforementioned country-tinged Flight 602, the live staple Free, At the Sunrise would not have sounded out of place on a latter day Beatles album with the McCartney/Lennon-esque vocal chemistry of Robert Lamm and Peter Cetera being the hallmark of the piece.But perhaps the strongest part of the Travel Suite is the underrated instrumental gem, Happy Cause I’m Going Home which features some of Terry Kath’s better acoustic guitar playing marked a soft counterpoint to his heavier electric guitar work on other tracks and truly displayed his versatility.Add to that there’s enough cowbell to make even Christopher Walken happy.The band was truly exploring and utilizing the studio space with the cowbell.To this day Happy Cause I’m Going Home remains one of my favorite Chicago album cuts.The song starts with the trademark layered approach that had become a staple of many of Chicago’s earlier songs, Terry counting them in, starting with his acoustic guitar, followed shortly by Peter’s bass, and shortly after Peter comes in, Danny’s drums before the rest of the band joins the rhythm section.There’s a scat vocal throughout that dances around the instruments and is an instrument in and of itself.And despite not being as well known as his solos on Colour My World or Just You & Me, Happy Cause I’m Going Home has perhaps the best flute solo Walt Parazaider ever recorded (although his solo on the Live At Carnegie Hall version of It Better End Soon would also be in the running for that honor).His solo is syncopated with more cowbell, some solid drum fills by Danny Seraphine, and some of the most melodic bass playing that Peter ever laid down.
The band takes a brief break with Mother and Lowdown before launching into An Hour In the Shower.Both songs are enjoyable, Lowdown has some decent guitar work by Terry even if he didn’t personally care for the song, he still put his heart into it.
An Hour In the Shower is perhaps the most unusual song ever recorded by Chicago.Instrumentally it’s as good as anything else on III (or II or their debut for that matter), but paying attention to the lyrics one might be left scratching one’s head.The song is by and large an ode to a morning routine (“Now I usually have my breakfast which consists of tasty Spam, Yeah, I could eat it all day long, But I only love one brand, and I can’t find it way out here, So I’ll have to take a pass, settle for some hash, what a drag, you’re not here, Oh sweet sweet Spam”), masturbation (“Now I lay me down to sleep, and I dream of my treasure map, it shows me where my maypole’s buried at, and I dream of all the fun I have when my maypole comes out to play” and later “Just reach underneath your bed, and turn on your electric friend, yeah, and turn your thoughts to me, cause you know where I’ll be, and you can join me in my hour in the shower”), and environmentally unfriendly water consumption (Terry sings of both starting and ending his day with hour long showers—2 hours in the shower a day!)
Following the perpetually amusing Hour In the Shower the album takes a decidedly pretentious turn with Robert Lamm reciting the Kendrew Laschelles poem, When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow which opens the third and final multiple part musical piece on the album.Once Upon a Time features another thoroughly enjoyable flute solo by Walt Parazaider before James Pankow offers an equally enjoyable trombone solo before both Walt and trumpeter Lee Loughnane come in.The horns eventually blend into a cacophony of noise that fades out as the sound of car horns fade in along with the sound of jackhammers and other unpleasant reminders of modern life.The car horns and jackhammers crescendo into a toilet flush and the piece ends with the instrumentals The Approaching Storm and Man vs. Man: The End.
While not as consistently strong as their debut nor as polished as Chicago II, Chicago III was then and remains today a thoroughly enjoyable album.It remains one of the most creative albums in their rather extensive catalogs and while, Elegy may have been a bit of a “miss” for me, credit has to be given for having the stones (of Sisyphus?) to try something so outside the norm.And, Elegy, to me, isthe lone “miss” on an otherwise excellent album.
It's one of the biggest gripes I've heard about this album, and I heard it repeatedly. If it's any consolation Delp did rejoin the band for the subsequent tour to promote the album.
That being said, Delp or no Delp this is a thoroughly enjoyable album. While Fran Cosmo's voice isn't quite as distinct as Delp's he does have the range Delp had in his prime and he is equal to the task of the material on the album.
And in all fairness to Mr. Cosmo he and Delp both took turns singing lead on former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau's 1980 solo album.
Given the strength of the material on Walk On, that I'd argue is possibly the best material Boston had recorded since Don't Look Back or possibly even their debut (if I were being particularly generous). Tight soaring vocal harmonies-- Check, trademark tight Tom Scholz "guitarmonies"-- Check, superior musicianship-- Check. I'd argue the timing of Walk On and the long delay (8 years) between albums likely contributed far more to its relative lack of success (compared to Boston's other albums. When you couple in that this album was released in the era of grunge, this album was far too polished to compete with the much rawer production that was coming from the likes of Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam around that time.
The album starts with a bang on I Need Your Love and keeps up the pace on Surrender to Me before the 12+ minute Walk On medley begins. Perhaps my lone complaint about this album was that Walk On was broken up into 4 tracks on the CD. None of the 4 tracks can stand on their own given the flow of the medley, I'd rather Scholz had made Walk On a single 12+ minute track. He still could have listed the different parts on the CD sleeve or in the liner notes. On some CD players the transition from track to track is rather seamless, but on others there can be a slight "hiccup" between each track that is somewhat jarring in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable piece.
Following Walk On is the unoffensive but comparatively weak, What's Your Name. In all fairness, even being the weakest song on the album, What's Your Name remains thoroughly enjoyable.
Magdalene, is a re-working of a song by Hybrid Ice, a band that found regional success in the early eighties in their native Pennsylvania. Having heard both Hybrid Ice's original version and Boston's version I've got to say that Scholz took a good song and made it great. The Hybrid Ice version is enjoyable enough, Scholz kept the choruses but changed the verses substantially and the harmony vocals by David Sikes and Tommy Funderburk are so tight they give me chills. To this day Magdalene remains my favorite song on this album. It just sounds as if everything fell into place. I'd even go so far as to say Magdalene blows their hit Amanda out of the water.
The album closes with the upbeat We Can Make It. It's an upbeat song about working together to change the world, it's the hints of a message that has crept increasingly more into Tom Scholz's lyrics in the years since.
If you've generally ignored this album due to the absence of Brad Delp, you're doing yourself a tremendous disservice. This album is superior, in every way, to 1986's Third Stage and is easily one of Boston's strongest albums-- Delp or no Delp.
In his first solo release since 1996, Bill Champlin demonstrates he's still got "it." For those unfamiliar, Champlin is a grizzled veteran vocalist, organist, songwriter who cut his teeth with his namesake band, the Sons of Champlin in the late sixties and through the seventies before stringing together a couple of Grammys (in 1979 for co-writing the Earth Wind & Fire hit, After the Love Is Gone and in 1983 for George Benson's R&B hit Turn Your Love Around) and a twenty-eight year stint as one of Chicago's three primary lead vocalists.
Towards the end of his tenure in Chicago, Champlin found the time to move from southern California to Nashville and record No Place Left to Fall. Ever the consumate professional, there is a definite polished quality in his production. But, at the same time, No Place Left to Fall is a departure from his previous albums. The material is considerably "swampier" than what fans of Champlin are likely used to. The blue-eyed soul is still there, but where on his previous albums the organ was there, on No Place Left to Fall it's no longer merely "there," it's quite prominent. Bill's love for his B-3 is evident throughout.
Throughout the album, Champlin explores his influences, the soul and R&B influences are never far from the surface but he does inject hints of country (on Angelina) and the aforementioned tight production is a product of his 28 plus years in Chicago. Where he does Chicago one better is he knows when to stop polishing. Some of Chicago's more recent releases were produced to the point of sterility where no emotion was left in the songs. Champlin knows when to keep polishing and when to show restraint and allow a bit of grit to seep onto the album.
He even takes one of Chicago's biggest hits, Look Away, which he and Chicago took to number one all the way back in 1988 and rearranges it and sings it the way HE wants to, on his own terms. Where the Chicago version sounded forced, Champlin's acoustic arrangement sounds more soulful and Champlin is decidedly more comfortable in his own skin than he was when singing the Chicago version all those years ago (and for several years since, night after night, year after year on the road).
All in all this album is bittersweet. Chicago had Champlin's talents at their disposal for twenty-eight years. It's his solo material that really shines a light on how under-utilized Champlin was during his tenure in Chicago. Perhaps if they'd loosened the leash on Champlin, he could have restored some credibility to their music, credibility that started to slip away even before the untimely passing of Terry Kath in 1978. His membership in Chicago was a musical gift, and for 28 years, that gift was largely squandered and reduced to singing Terry Kath-karaoke.
If you think you know Champlin based on his contributions to Chicago, prepare to be pleasantly surprised. No Place Left to Fall blows away even his best contributions to his now former band and affirms its place as one of his best solo endeavours.
*released digitally and on CD in Europe and Japan in 2008. Not released on CD in the US until August 4, 2009
Along with groups like Styx & Kansas, Starcastle was an American response to the British prog-rock of the sixties and seventies. Their sound and style is largely reminiscent (some would argue disparagingly that it was derivative) of Yes.
Listening to their first 3 albums (of which Fountains of Light is the 2nd) this comparison is not only understandable but fully warranted. In addition to the Roger Dean-esque cover artwork the synth heavy music is reminiscent of Tormato era Yes. Which makes Starcastle an even more interesting anomaly in that their first three albums pre-date Tormato. So somehow Starcastle managed to not only sound like a derivative of, but also a pre-cursor to Yes.
Terry Luttrell's (ex-REO Speedwagon) vocals are reminiscent of Jon Anderson, the tight vocal harmonies and even tighther rhythm section make for a thoroughly enjoyable sound. Unfortunately the synthesizer heavy stylings of computer programmer Herb Schildt have not aged well.
Dated synths aside, Fountains of Light is an delightful and very listenable album. Other than Fountains which opens the album, most of the songs range from just over three minutes to barely over six. Their brevity making them a bit more accessible than Yes's at times over-indulgent romps but at the same time this also contributes to the derogatory labeling of Starcastle as "Yes-lite."
Another interesting twist in Starcastle, their driving force and arguably their band leader, Gary Strater, was the bass player. There's a tightness, one might argue even a symbiosis between Strater's bass and the drumming of Stephen Tassler. It's these tight rhythms that were arguably better than that of Yes that set Starcastle apart and make them worthy of consideration in their own right, as opposed to being merely a poor man's Yes as the critics seemed to pan them as over the years.
In 1971 Ray Manzarek, Robby Kreiger, & John Densmore decided to soldier on without Jim Morrison.
Wait, the Doors without Jim Morrison?! That does not compute, doesn't make sense by any stretch of the imagination.
But at the same time Morrison was constantly trying to shift focus away from himself to his bandmates. There are group photos where, while he is front and center, he's kind of cowering lower to try to put the focus on Kreiger, Densmore, and Manzarek. So something tells me, on some level, this is a decision that Morrison might have smiled down on.
I have to give credit where it's due. The music is actually pretty damned good and the three remaining Doors did right by Morrison by not trying to replace him, they merely continued on without him-- Kreiger and Manzarek taking on the vocal duties in the Lizard King's absence.
Manzarek was no stranger to singing for the Doors as he was known to sing lead for them on many ocassions when Jim was still alive but too inebriated or incapacitated to perform. Rather than cancel or reschedule, often times the Doors would perform with Manzarek handling the vocals.
But Manzarek is no Morrison, nor for that matter is Robby Kreiger. It took some serious stones to soldier on without Mojo Risin' but as a tribute to Morrison perhaps they should have changed their name.
In order to listen to this album objectively it's best to forget it's a Doors album. Close your eyes and listen to it for its own sake. The music IS good and good music should be enjoyed without prejudice. The keyboard/organ playing is trademark Manzarek, the drums are still John Densmore, and the guitar is still good ol' Robby Kreiger.
When a person goes blind or deaf his or her other senses tend to grow stronger to compensate for the loss of that sense. As a trio the Doors play even tighter than as a quartet. It's almost as if Morrison's passing brought the remaining three members of the band that much closer together.
Even if deep down inside I can't bring myself to refer to Other Voices as a true Doors album, I also can't deny that it's thirty-nine plus minutes of damned good music. I just wish that Densmore, Manzarek, and Kreiger had made a fresh start and recorded under a new band name. They and their music deserves to be appreciated free from the ghosts and constraints of their past. Retaining "The Doors" moniker severely handicapped the album's potential success before the first note was even recorded.
Dragon's story is an interesting one. They started out as a prog-rock group in the early seventies but were met with general indifference. It took some personnel changes and a move from Auckland to Sydney for their careers to take off.
The most notable of the personnel changes was the addition of vocalist Marc Hunter who replaced the departed Graeme Collins at the request of his brother and Dragon guitarist, Todd Hunter.
Marc Hunter looked the part and had the voice and the change of venue was just what the band needed. The move to Sydney put Dragon on a stratospheric trajectory in their adopted homeland.
Following their success in Australia they decided to try to crack the US market on a disastrous tour supporting Johnny Winter. After inciting a crowd in Texas by derogatorily insinuating they preferred the romantic company of the same gender. Marc Hunter related the story in a 1994 interview:
I remember seeing someone standing holding a pistol and shouting 'Im gonna kill you, you son of a bitch'... I didn't know it but by this point the rest of the band had left the stage. I was still singing because I could still hear the music in my head. It took ages to clear the pile of debris on the stage - broken glass, bottles, chairs, half a table - but I was totally unaware of this, I thought I was going over really well and I'm standing there in a crucifixion pose with my arms out, really gone, with heaps of eye make-up on, looking like some sort of twisted priest. And apparently Johnny Winter was taking bets on the side of the stage as to how long it would take before somebody shot me. Then I turned around and saw no one was on stage so I realised I wasn't going over too well after all and I went back to the dressing room and everyone was just standing there... I said 'We went great, weren't we terrific?' At that stage of the band I was really a shocking sod. And all the record company people were just staring at me like I was an insectoid from Mars. And so that was it for us for that trip to America."
O Zambezi was released just before Dragon's ill-fated tour of the United States in 1978. From start to finish this album is a catchy capsule of late seventies rock. The album only peaked at 17 in Dragon's native New Zealand but in Australia it was a much different story as the album shot all the way up to #3 largely on the strength of the #1 hit single Are You Old Enough? and the catchy Still In Love With You. To this day, O Zambezi remains Dragon's highest charting album and largely on the strength of their catalog from this era of the band, Dragon was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2008.
If you're new to Dragon O Zambezi is an excellent album to start with as it's a snapshot in time of the band at the pinnacle of their success when they were firing on all cylinders making infectious uptempo pop music.
On a sad footnote keyboardist Paul Hewson died of a drug overdose on January 9, 1985 and the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle also caught up with vocalist Marc Hunter. He was forced to retire from performing when he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997. Unfortunately, he inevitably succumbed to cancer on July 17, 1998.
Coming from a strong progressive rock pedigree in the seventies with his stints as lead singer/bassist in King Crimson, touring with Roxy Music, briefly with Uriah Heep, and the short lived prog-rock supergroup UK (with Allan Holdsworth, Eddy Jobson, Bill Bruford, and later as a trio with Terry Bozzio replacing Bill Bruford and Allen Holdsworth departing not to be replaced).
In the eighties Wetton shifted his focus slightly to what could best be described as prog-pop or possibly "Arena-Prog" with the early eighties MTV arena rock supergroup juggernaut, Asia.
With 1995's Battle Lines Wetton shifted even further into the pop realm with his brief foray into the realm of adult contemporary music in an attempt to attract some new listeners and perhaps make himself a bit more accessible.
While not as adventurous or as interesting as Wetton's more progressive material, Battle Lines is certainly more accessible. The material is still uminstakably John Wetton but it lacks a bit of the adventurousness of his earlier career.
As a prog-pop album, Battle Lines, is a bit of a disappointment. As an adult-contemporary album, on the other hand, Battle Lines, is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. The only "throwaway" or "filler" track to be found is Jane which would not have sounded out of place in the eighties-- somewhat troubling consideirng that Battle Lines was released well into the nineties.
Other than the lone hiccup, Wetton's voice is thoroughly enjoyable as always. While he may not be the best singer, what he lacks in vocal quality he far more than makes up for in the overall passion of his vocal delivery. His vocals particularly stand out on the title track, Battle Lines, and on the utterly heart-wrenching, tear-jerking Hold Me Now.
There are far too numerous songs about unrequited love to even begin to count, but what sets Hold Me Now apart from the rest of the sizable pack is not just Wetton's impassioned delivery but also the subject matter. This isn't a song of romantic love, but of love between a child and his mother. The pain in Wetton's voice is downright palpable as he implores;
Mama, just hold me now
You don't have to be pretend
Smash the chains and throw them to the floor
Hold me now and let me believe that a kiss is the way it should be
'cause it means the world to me
Hold Me Now makes Battle Lines well worth the purchase price on its own, let alone the rest of material on the album.
With subsequent releases Wetton would start to return to his more progressive roots much to the delight of his fans. But this album shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Taken in the right context this album is as thoroughly enjoyable as anything else Wetton has ever recorded. And some credit must be given for Wetton to at least try his hand at a genre he was not known for performing.
Related Links
John Wetton Interview (1994)
John Wetton & Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis) performing Battle Lines
Imagine, if you will, getting to hear your favorite band before they hit it big. Chicago Transit Authority (originally "The Big Thing" and later just "Chicago") was formed by a gentleman's agreement in woodwind player, Walt Parazaider's apartment in February 1967. The original six members Terry Kath, Danny Seraphine, Robert Lamm, Walt Parazaider, James Pankow, and Lee Loughnane were augmented a few months later by tenor vocalist/bass player, Peter Cetera who left the group he'd been with, the Exceptions, to join The Big Thing.
Through the rather fortuitous friendship of James William Guercio and Walt Parazaider, The Big Thing were pitched to Columbia Records. One of Guercio's first steps as producer/manager of the band was to change their name to Chicago Transit Authority, after the public transportation he'd grown up riding and held a special nostalgia for.
This bootleg is a snapshot of that era, before Chicago became Chicago, before their 3 worldwide #1 hits, before becoming only second to the Beach Boys in record sales by an American band-- the band playing on this bootleg is a younger, hungrier, and much more raw band than what they'd later turn into.
The Setlist 1. It Better End Soon (later released on Chicago II) 2. Girl (later released as Someday on Chicago Transit Authority with completely different lyrics referencing the '68 Democratic Convention in Chicago) 3. Once Upon a Life (never released) 4. Terry's Blues (cut ending) 5. Terry's Blues (one hell of a showcase of guitarist Terry Kath's talents, at the end of the song he refers to the song as Toe Jam) 6. Questions 67 & 68 (later released on Chicago Transit Authority) 7. Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry cover, sung by Terry Kath with interesting "new" lyrics interespersed with the Chuck Berry lyrics making reference to marijuana) 8. Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley & His Comets cover sung by Peter Cetera) 9. Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group cover sung by Robert Lamm, I have a bootleg from the 80s that features Peter Cetera singing this instead of Robert Lamm) 10. Listen (later released on Chicago Transit Authority) 11. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (later released on Chicago Transit Authority) 12. Mississippi Delta City Blues (later released on Live in Japan in 1972with a new arrangement, and on Chicago XI in 1978 with yet a different arrangement) 13. Got to Get You Into My Life (Beatles cover sung by Peter Cetera) 14. It's Not Unusual (Tom Jones cover sung by Terry Kath) 15. Poem 58 (later released on Chicago Transit Authority) 16. I'll Be Back Again (Beatles cover sung by Robert Lamm & Peter Cetera) 17. Dedicated to Girl Number One (unreleased, this is the song Chicago recorded as their demo. The demo is apparently lost forever somewhere in the Sony vaults. This is one of two live versions I know of, sung by Robert Lamm) 18. Liberation (later released on Chicago Transit Authority)
The sound quality is uneven. On some songs its surprisingly good but on all tracks, despite a few flubs here and there, it's very listenable. This is one of three Chicago bootlegs from 1968 known to be floating around fan collector circles. Of the three, this one has the best sound quality although one of the other two bootlegs (both recorded at Barnaby's) have arguably a superior song selection with covers of Hendrix (Hey Joe, Foxy Lady, & Purple Haze), Cream (Sunshine of Your Love), the Beach Boys (Darlin'), the Beatles (Lady Madonna, Sgt. Peppers, With a Little Help From My Friends), Marvin Gaye (One More Heartache), Martha & the Vandellas (Dancing in the Streets), Brenda Lee (Losing You), and Wilson Pickett (99 and a Half Just Won't Do).
Hearing the band at this stage in their careers is quite refreshing considering what the band has turned into in more recent years. Members have come and gone and the hunger has been replaced by greed. There's a love for the music they're performing-- both the covers and the original material that is, arguably, lacking in the current incarnation of the band's performances.
But all in all this is how Chicago should be heard, young and hungry. Full of energy, a balls-on horntastic blast of music.
Every once in awhile an album will be released that will leave you scratching your head. It will be an album that generally is not only not expected but some might argue completely unnecessary.
So, REO Speedwagon doing a Christmas album? You've got to be kidding me, right? What's next a Bob Dylan Chri- oh wait not him too!
Upon further consideration, why not? I mean there have been some downright BAD interpretations of Christmas classics over the years. So why not REO Speedwagon putting an arena rock spin on some of the holiday's best?
After I suspended my disbelief, I decided to give this Christmas album a shot. First off, I'm disappointed that REO didn't record this sooner... like twenty-five to thirty years ago when they were at the peak of their success and Kevin Cronin's singing voice was still intact. In all fairness, Cronin's voice is still passable. He could still sing circles around me and heck even a handful of his contemporaries whose voices haven't aged as well... That being said his voice isn't what it once was. And listening to these arrangements, I can't help but wonder how much better this Christmas album might have sounded with a younger Kevin Cronin at the peak of his talents and abilities.
Of all the tracks on this collection, Cronin's voice sounds best on The White Snows of Winter. He doesn't really sound bad on any of the songs, but at the same time he doesn't quite sound as good as he once did.
Some of the other stand-out tracks include REO's power-ballad treatment of Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard On High.
The one moment that could have been omitted was Cronin making reference to those "funky" gentlemen in God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Granted, on a journey as long as the one the three wise men embarked upon with limited access to water, I'm guessing they were indeed "funky" but I don't believe that's the context that Cronin was referring to in the album's single lapse.
Other than that lapse, this Christmas release is in addition to being rather unexpected is moderately enjoyable and completely unoffensive. Which, for a Christmas album, is a good thing.
Over 6 years elapsed between the release of Boston's Don't Look Back and Third Stage albums, killing any momentum the band had after the commercial successes of their first two albums.
Barry Goudreau's self-titled solo album featuring not only his guitar playing but also vocals from Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo (incidentally Cosmo later sang lead with Goudreau's other band, Orion the Hunter in 1984 and Boston's Walk On album in 1994).
Goudreau's guitar playing and the tight vocal harmonies of Delp and Cosmo make this album sound like the Boston album that never was. The style is much more reminiscent of Boston's first two albums which both featured both Goudreau and Tom Scholz on guitars than their later albums which featured Sholz & Gary Pihl on guitars.
Unfortunately, this album led to Goudreau being fired from Boston as it was felt at the time that Goudreau was trying to steal a bit of Boston's thunder. In reality, Goudreau was just getting bored waiting for Boston to knuckle down and get to work on their third album so he decided to release a solo album to bide his time and maintain his talents.
Given the six years that passed between Don't Look Back and Third Stage Scholz should have given this album his blessing as it would have kept Boston on the radar of the listening public while he was working on Third Stage.
The material on this release is strong from the opening bars of Hard Luck through songs like What's a Fella To Do and Dreams and on through to the closing bars of Cold Cold World which closes the album. While some of the songs definitely sound like they just as easily could have come from a Boston album, songs like Mean Woman Blues sound more reminiscent of REO Speedwagon's debut album than anything Boston ever recorded.
As far as Boston related material is concerned, this album sounds more like Boston than any of the other derivatives (Orion the Hunter, Return to Zero, Delp/Goudreau, etc.). Arguably, this album is more faithful to the sound of Boston's first two albums than Third Stage, Walk On, or Corporate America were.
If you thoroughly enjoyed Boston's first two albums this is a MUST HAVE! Heck this album is a welcome addition to any collection.
Every once in awhile I stumble upon a CD that is a pure joy to listen to from start to finish, one I can’t stop listening to, where I can’t get the music out of my head even long after the banality of life has forced me to remove my headphones. Uli Jon Roth’s Metamorphosis is such a CD—an aural treat from start to finish, pure ear candy! 
