Irish Coffee's debut is practically the definition of the Continental European rock sound of the era. Heavy guitar and Hammond organ are the main instruments, while the English vocals are delivered in a forceful gruff style. The music is deceptively complex, and a casual listen will likely result in labeling the album as "hard rock" and it definitely rides that fence. Tracks like 'Can't Take It', 'When Winter Comes', and 'Hear Me' pack a lot of ideas and meter shifts into their sub 5 minute time frames. The single tracks are indeed more straightforward, and the last recordings come from 1974 where it appears the band hadn't progressed at all.
My first taste of the album, along with dozens of other people I'm sure, came via the Voodoo CD reissue (1992) which I picked up sometime in the 90s. Over the years, this reissue had been tagged a pirate edition, but I was pretty certain it was legit. And sure enough, the band themselves reissued it in a limited edition (Voodoo was an early name for the band). It featured 7 bonus tracks and a small history. Naturally it vanished into various collections over the years, and the bootleggers hit the market hard.
Fortunately Garden of Delights came to the rescue (under their non-German Thors Hammer moniker), and this is the de facto reissue. Here we learn of the authenticity of the original CD (but points out one glaring recording error), as well as confirming the original LP release date as July 1971 (I still see 1972 appended on some discographies). It would be great to get an original, but that's not likely to ever happen. While I think it's a great album, I don't think it's worth four figures honestly (and yea, I do think some albums are worth that - personally speaking of course).
8/20/14 (review / new entry)
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