Blister Chap ~ Germany

Sweet Lillian (1980)

---5/23/12

With a moniker of Blister Chap, and a cover that features the male-fantasy-overload of a nice pair of gams* in fishnets holding a half-lit cigarette, one shouldn't expect much more than a good time rock-n-roller right? Well, no, not exactly. Blister Chap surprises everyone here with a sophisticated blend of American styled hard rock, AOR, and 70s progressive rock. Lots of clavinet as well for gear heads. Even more complex than a similar band - say Canada's Saga - which is bizarre on first sight. Released on the do-it-yourselfer Brutkasten label - and about par for the course for the imprint. You never know what you're going to get, and this one is quite good honestly. Not Krautrock mind you, defying their heritage, but if this were from the UK, then collectors would have more to crow about I think. File next to the Desiree - Make it With a Smile album.

 * - It's long been a goal of mine to put the phrase "nice pair of gams" in a review. I can scratch that one off the bucket list.

---5/24/25

Ha - look at that, almost precisely 13 years later I'm back to Blister Chap. This time I'm listening to my newly acquired LP. Blister Chap is a classic example of being lazily called Krautrock when it has no association whatsoever with the term. RYM wisely avoids this trap and uses Art Rock and Hard Rock as principles with Prog as a secondary. Another reference here would be Dschinn Fizz, a band I was mostly unfamiliar with in 2012. There were a lot of these interesting German bands running around the late 70s and early 80s. They weren't the "since discovered" prog acts (Sirius, Ivory, Neuschwanstein, etc...) nor the early metal groups, but rather bands trying to extend the boundaries of more commercial friendly fare. Scorpions were sort of up to the same thing, they just added more muscle to the proceedings. There's also quite a bit of fusion on Side 2 that is much welcomed. Title track could have used a rework however. Finishes nice though. As I concluded the Dschinn Fizz review: "If you come here looking for the next progressive rock classic, you won't be impressed. But if looking for that peculiar breed of North American "proggy AOR", then this album moves to the top of class.", one could easily make a similar argument here for Blister Chap.

As for the band moniker, that's a swing and a miss. There's just no quality connotation with the word blister. Blisters blow plain and simple. Perhaps Chaps My Ass would have aged much better.

Ownership: 1980 Brutkasten (LP)

5/23/12 (review); 5/24/25 (acquired / update)

No reissues for either of their albums as of 5/24/25.

5/24/25 (new entry)