The comparisons to Focus and Finch are hard to avoid when talking Bonfire's sole album. The melodic nature of the former is met with the driving guitar fronted fierceness of the latter. I would also throw in the playfulness of another Dutch group - that of Pantheon (of Orion fame), which Bonfire perhaps shares more in common with (minus the saxophone). Worth noting that the 3 bands above are all instrumental, as is Bonfire. In addition, some of the humor-in-rock recalls the Flemish band Kandahar as well as the Danish group Dr. Dopo Jam. An excellent album.
Ownership: LP: 1975 EMI. Single sleeve. Recent online acquisition (2022). Some of the online reference sites show a yellow "Bonfire" on the turntable portion of cover, but that was later appended to the Pseudonym CD.
CD: 1994 Belle Antique. Jewel case with obi. Gold disc and is limited to 500 copies. Has recording details and notes in Japanese. Also includes over 17 minutes of bonus tracks. Of these, the first two are from a single that I reviewed over at The 45 Revolution. The last two fast forwards to 1980 and introduces vocals. Much better than you might think with those parameters, as the music remains progressive even though there is a pop element. The final track brings us back to the style of the album proper, and the bass work recalls Zeuhl to some extent. A super close to the package.
1994 (first listen); 8/10/12 (review / new entry); 1/25/25
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