Rory Gallagher - Blueprint. 1973 Polydor (LP). After being pleasantly surprised by Gallagher's Against the Grain (see below), Blueprint is more of what I would expect from a blues rock guitarist. I didn't derive too much out of this title unfortunately. (Jun)
Morly Grey - The Only Truth. 2000 Akarma (LP) (1972). Collection revisit (May). When I first started collecting heavily in the late 80s, I began to receive catalogs with big-time rarities. Among the top tier of those was Morly Grey, an album going for more than three times my monthly apartment rent back then. Without knowing the future, I just presumed I would never get to hear an album like that. It was exactly at that time the bootleggers started to run wild, and albums like this were available to us paupers too. After a couple of bad experiences I avoided those boots like the plague, and The Only Truth remained an album I missed in my original deep diving experience. Many years later, the always checkered Akarma showed up with a supposed legal LP reissue. Complete with the poster! Oh why not I said - especially since I had access to obtain it at a wholesale price. That's Part 1 of this review - the collector background. For Part 2 I'll cover on the music. If one was to just hear this album as "all things being equal" then I think it would be easy to walk away unimpressed. But if you can immerse yourself in the regional culture of northeastern Ohio in the early 70s, then an album like Morly Grey opens up. And that painting and font / lettering could be the cover art for the entire early 70s American private press movement. Even with that immersion, Morly Grey isn't near as adventurous, as heavy, or as psychy as many of their counterparts of the day. The 17 minute title track looks impressive on paper, but when you realize much of it is a space rock version of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', then it loses its punch. Many of my peers love this record but I'm not feeling it. Never have. For Part 3 of this evaluation, I now need to consider the ownership. Were it an original copy, I would treasure it to the end. Because it would come with a story of how I obtained it. If that happens at some point in my future, that would still hold true. Perhaps I'll obtain the later issued Sundazed CD or LP on the cheap via my various digging and trades. But this version? Akarma was always good at packaging, I'll give them that. But do I have any nostalgia at all for this particular LP? Nope - wholesale online mail order buy. Probably bought it in between some corporate meetings. No magical listens either. Long way of saying that this LP is out the door. But there's still room for The Only Truth in the collection if opportunity affords itself. Not essential though.
Eternity. 1981 (online). One of those sought after private hard rock albums from the abyss that was the late 70s and early 80s. Reissued on LP in 2014 by Got Kinda Lost, a Guerssen sublabel, the album was released to a larger niche audience. Looking at the cover, I know if I found an original in the wilds my hands would be sweating. It's got the look. You'd think it might be a Christian metal album actually, though it's neither Christian nor metal. As for the music, it's surprisingly straightforward for the time. Many of these type of underground bands from this era would mix in some proggy ideas or let loose in the instrumental department. No such luck with Eternity. The hype sticker suggests it has a sound more from the early 70s. Naw, too dormant for that. The guitar solos are very good, the other guys are rather static including the vocals. It's tough to figure out the audience for such a record, even in its day. Far different than fellow southern Californian residents Alkana. Good hard rock for certain, leave it at that I guess. Sealed copies of the reissue are still available online for a good price if interested. (Apr)
Steve Vai - The Ultra Zone. 1999 Epic (CD). It's hard to walk away from CDs like this when they're mint and only 69 cents, even though that's about all it's worth. I like Steve Vai though I've yet to hear anything I wanted to keep, including his work with David Lee Roth. This is a typical eclectic brew of hard rock styles with Vai's adept soloing. Something like this would have been head turning in 1979, but 20 years later, there were many of these type of albums, including from Vai himself. Fans will love it, but I remain impressed yet bored. (Apr)
*Rory Gallagher - Against the Grain. 1975 Chrysalis (LP). I'm way late to the party when it comes to Rory Gallagher. One of those artists I've heard of almost since the beginning of my time listening to FM radio, and yet have never taken the time to hear one of his albums. My loss. I never find them either, despite Against the Grain not being an expensive record (and many others appear affordable as well). The easy description is Gallagher plays blues rock. But this is far more interesting than your standard 12 bar blues. And what a guitar tone he achieves. One can hear Foghat, Groundhogs, or Frank Marino here, though probably one or all were more influenced by Gallagher than the other way around. I preferred Side 1 to the flip. 'Cross Me Off Your List' is a particular highlight. I need to hear more of his albums before formulating an opinion and creating a page. I'm sure at some point I will find them out in the wilds. (Apr)
AC/DC - The Razors Edge. 1990 ATCO (MC). A reasonable person might ask why I continue to listen and review AC/DC albums when I don't like any of them. A good question that I don't have a great answer to other than to say I'd like to document all of them and try to be as objective as possible. I have to admit the opening is quite intriguing, as Angus Young has quite the unique riff going. But once Brian Johnson begins singing with his sandpaper voice, it's back to the usual boogie hard rock complete with gang chorus'. RYM has this as their highest rated album after Back in Black including For Those About to Rock, which surprised me. I once found a sealed reissue LP of this album but there was no way I was going to break it figuring I wouldn't keep anyway. Easy guess. I can't imagine building a group page for AC/DC since I doubt I'll keep any of them. If I do, then I can consolidate all these journal entries. Otherwise it just looks like I'm bitter towards them. But I'm not, they're just outside of my enjoyment zone. (Mar)
Terry Reid. 1992 BGO (CD) (1969). Very much of its era English blues rock. Many compare to Led Zeppelin in their similar early blues rock phase, though I'm not hearing it myself, even though Reid was very much part of that circle. Some good fuzzy guitar offsets the mostly vocal tracks. The highlight for me is Pete Solley's (not Pete Shelley as is often cited) organ performance. 'Marking Time' is my favorite track by some measure, and the rest is decent, but rather mundane to my ears. Typically great BGO reissue with a full history. Also contains four bonus tracks from 1967 and 1968. On these Reid is performing a more Beatles styled Baroque psych pop, much different than the album proper. (Feb)
George Hatcher Band - Coming Home. 1982 The Goods (LP) (1980). This ended up being much more interesting than I thought it would be. I found a sealed copy a full year ago while Mrs. UMR and I were antiquing down south in Florence (Colorado). Put it in the sealed records box to eventually check out. I found the album on YouTube with little expectation. The publishing address is Charlotte, North Carolina, so I presumed country rock to be honest, especially considering his look on the cover. Nope - not that. Singer George Hatcher was born and raised in North Carolina, but relocated to England in the mid 70s and began to work with Curved Air members. So clearly he associated with next level musicians. He started his own group in England playing American styled southern rock. Eventually he moved back to Charlotte and built a new band under his name. The reviews out there are accurate when they say that Hatcher bears a strong resemblance to Bob Seger. And some of the music also recalls the Silver Bullet Band. But it's much more creative than that might imply. There's also some really strong synthesizer, clavinet, and dual guitar work here. The opening three tracks are best before beginning to devolve into typical boogie rock. But even on those songs there's usually a cool guitar break. B3 and the second half of B1 are also really good. After A3 I was thinking this was going to be a keeper, but overall just not enough meat on this bone to keep me full through the winter. Will take the profit instead. (Feb)
Power - Electric Glitter Boogie. 2017 In The Red (LP) (2015). Got this sealed from a store in Denver for really cheap (Feb). Let's go to Bandcamp and see if this is something I want to keep. Power are an Australian band celebrating the hard charging boogie rock of their 70s ancestors, like early AC/DC and Rose Tattoo. With a dash of late 70s punk thrown in, especially considering the songwriting and vocal style. But the guitarist gets a lot of limelight, putting us back in the early 70s. I wish they were copping Buffalo instead, but this isn't bad at all. No need to keep though.
Cherry St. - Monroe. 1996 Perris (CD). Cherry St. were yet another 80s glam band out of Los Angeles. Way late to the party (so to speak), they had to borrow old cans of hairspray just to get a back row seat. By the time of Monroe, they went au natural and look like every other tattooed hard rock band trying to make a go of it. The music is straight up boogie hard rock like AC/DC and Krokus, and the lyrics are loaded with foul language. No bueno by any measure. Appears the band never got plugged in correctly, and are now a mere footnote in history. This version features three bonus tracks where they at least up the metal ante. Needed way more than that though to gain anyone's attention. (Jan)
Other hard rock albums heard but not reviewed: Edgar Winter - Roadwork (Mar); Trapeze - Hot Wire (Apr).
* - Keeping for the collection
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