In my recent review of Caravan's In the Land of Grey and Pink I noted that even though I have listed my Top 25 Most Important LPs and CDs, I haven't done my Top 25 Most Important Albums. One reason is I'm not quite sure I can do it. But if I did... Electric Sun's Earthquake would for certain be in there, just as Caravan's album would be.
And why is that? Well let's take a trip down memory lane. Hope you all don't get too bored with these reminiscences. But I think it helps paint the picture of the listener, and demonstrates where some biases come from. We have to go back to late 1979, when I was all of 14 years old. Yep, right around that same point I got into Judas Priest (see recent Sin After Sin review). And... the Scorpions. Bet you can already tell where this is going. Back then, my parents inexplicably allowed me to get a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. They were always concerned that I was "going the wrong way". Ha - turns out they were right, but not in the typical bad behavior model. Anyway... one of the news items - very short at that - mentioned that former Scorpions guitarist Uli Roth had formed a new band called Electric Sun, and they had just released their debut album. So the next time I would go to a mall record store, or our local Sound Warehouse, I'm buying it! Trouble was... nobody knew what I was talking about! Finally I called into our local Dallas album rock radio station, and talked to the knowledgeable DJ there (the only one really). I discuss this gentleman in the Hands review, which for me is another great story. He said that he had heard about this release too, and the only place you'll find the LP in Dallas is at Metamorphosis Records. That's where I first heard about that store! I've covered it in a few places here on UMR already, as it was foundational to my music growth.
But there's a problem. How do I get there? Going to a mall store was easy, because I would go with my mom or friends. But this store was in a dicey part of inner Dallas (no more - completely gentrified and expensive now), and no way would my parents take me there - to buy a record! Or anyone else either. I literally had to wait until September of 1980. Why then? Because I got my driver's license on that day, my 16th birthday. And to celebrate, I drove to Metamorphosis, and bought this album along with Scorpions Action (no, I had no idea it was known as Lonesome Crow - and that's another tale that I discuss there).
What of the music? Well... that was foreign to me as well. I hadn't quite yet understood that Roth's influence on the Scorpions was from an earlier psychedelic era. In fact, this album taught me that. I talk about this topic on the Tokyo Tapes review. Now with no Meine and Schenker to get in the way, we get a whole album of psychedelic influenced hard rock. And it rocks too. I listened to it over and over... and over. I began to love it and wanted more like it! (And off goes Mr. UMR deep diving, even at a young age). The opening namesake 'Electric Sun' is just a jammin' good time. Roth never could sing, but I find his voice essential to their overall sound. And his guitar playing is so delicious. Other highlights include 'Burning Wheels Turning', 'Sundown', and 'Still So Many Lives Away'. Which gets us to the title track, a monsterpiece if there ever was one. After some atmospheric grand proclamations, the album begins to find its groove around the 4 minute mark. Only 2 minutes later you should find your stereo to be in flames, and it continues in this manner until the very end. Uli Roth had managed to exhume the ghost of 1971 Manuel Gottsching and produced one of the all-time great guitar freakouts to close off the 70s decade. If your presumption is that Electric Sun is a Scorpions diversion, you'll want to hear this album again with a different perspective.
Ownership: LP: 198? Brain. Single sleeve. Full story above. Now that copy was the original Brain release on the orange / multi-colored label. Like a dope, I let other "friends" borrow the album. Because I wanted to be cool. Shoot - import records were a personal fortune back then, and of course these "friends" trashed it. Hey, when you're 16 it's important to fit in right? In any case, sometime in the mid to late 90s I upgraded to the copy I have now. It's a later press of course, but it's mint. Inexplicably this album remains very cheap. It obviously sold well and there are many copies out there, but how is a German import of Earthquake cheaper than a US commodity pressing of Fly to the Rainbow? Even Accept albums on Brain go for more dough now. It makes no sense.
CD: 1988 Metal Masters (UK). And speaking of no sense - the geniuses that released this CD put the discs backwards! If I didn't know the music already, I would have been massively confused. Otherwise, it's a fine reissue that contains all 3 of Electric Sun's albums (2xCD fatbox!). The booklet has full lyrics but nothing else. I will cover off on Firewind when I get to it. However I never liked Beyond the Astral Skies. Since I had the CD out already, I tried it one more time, but it's really lightweight and misses the Roth magic. I think I picked up this CD in the mid 90s. Only as a supplement, since the vinyl LPs were always super important to me.
9/11/80; 3//10; 8/6/22 (new entry)
No comments:
Post a Comment