Epitaph - s/t. 1971 Germany

Epitaph were a German heavy rock band, typical of the 1971 genre, with a UK vocalist in tow which is always a plus (if persisting with the English language that is). 'Moving to the Country' starts the album off somewhat inauspiciously with that sort of breezy rural rock which dragged down their more famous later album Outside the Law. 'Visions' switches gears radically. Basically a symphonic ballad with a tremendous amount of mellotron. After this, Epitaph go for the "long form" track with extensive stretches of guitar jamming, which is certainly their forte. 'Little Maggie' gives us a "head fake" that it's going to be another rural affair, before tossing the composition aside so they can get down to the business of jamming. Arguably the album ends at its apex with 'Early Morning'. An excellent debut by an otherwise mediocre band that deteriorated as they went on. Though the followups Stop, Look, Listen and Outside the Law are quite good as well.

Personal collection
LP: 1971 Polydor
CD: 2005 Polydor/Universal

The Polydor/Universal CD comes in a fine digi-pak and features 5 bonus tracks that are quite good in their own right and make an excellent supplement to the album proper.