Review: Caravan - If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you

If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you
(Decca 1970)

1. If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you
2. And I wish I were stoned - Don't worry
3. As I feel I die
4. With an ear to the ground you can make it / Martinian / Only cox / Reprise
5. Hello Hello
6. Asforteri 25
7. Can't be long now / Françoise / For Richard / Warlock
8. Limits

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Now we're talking! Full frontal prog, with song lengths setting a standard that in 1970 was still to be assimilated by the prog community. Of course, song length is not a value in itself and if you can't justify it with good melodies and/or intriguing instrumental passages then it's just grating. Thankfully, Caravan at least partly succeeded in this respect from the very beginning although I feel that the closing suite consists too much of uninspired jamming and little actual songwriting, but up until then we're sorted.

The overall atmosphere is somewhat lighter than on the debut, despite the even more bombastic approach with all the multi-part suites because basically every song on here is built upon melodies lighter than a feather. Kinda reflective of the forest grove on the cover with all the 'foresty' organs and flutes abound. This atmosphere is especially present on "And I wish I were stoned", "As I feel I die" and "With an ear to the ground you can make it". Well, there's half the album already! However, it all begins with Caravan's already established brand of quirky pop in "If I could do it all over again, I'd make the title even longer", but I honestly don't think that it's very good. The looping melody with interweaving harmonies is inventive for sure, but I don't really care for the actual song.

But then we're going places, supposedly into that aforementioned forest. "And I wish I were stoned" is one of my favourite tracks on here, essentially just two oh-so-obvious pop ditties merged together with some tasteful organ-led passages and what is actually the first real guitar solo from Hastings. Then, still in the forest, we have "As I feel I die" beginning as a slow, almost unbearably quiet melody (that nonetheless rule) building up tension, only to suddenly shift gears and tipping its hat to their jazz-tinged legacy. Can't you imagine the elves skipping around in the morning sun finding its way down through the green foilage? Or yourself, for that matter.

But then we are ever so slightly running into trouble. The, once again, multi-part "With an ear to the ground" begins on a similarily quiet note, then gradually picks up steam but its first part (reprised at the end) doesn't really cut it. It gets better in the mid-section though, and as it slows down we are greeted with lush harmonies and a lovely flute solo so all in all it qualifies. "Hello hello" continues the line of the title track, although in a minor key this time and noticeably better. But then we have that closing suite which just seems to go nowhere. There are a few moments which approaches 'decent', like the reocurring organ theme that concludes the measures in the second part about four minutes in and onward, as well as after the sax/flute solos. I also like the part which follows, with that four-chord organ swirl adding at least some power to an otherwise lame exercise in pointless noodling. Why couldn't they make a proper song out of these neat little ideas instead of trying to one-up the... oh wait! This piece is actually breaking some new ground. Like I said, the side-long prog suites were still to be taken up by contemporaries like Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and Yes (who at the time hadn't even released "The Yes album" which even there didn't boast anything longer than ten minutes. "For Richard" is over fourteen).

So that somewhat ruins the experience since it takes up way too much of the overall running length. Too bad, since some of the other tracks manages to surpass the quality of the debut. Their best work was yet to come.

Review: Oasis - Definitely maybe

Definitely maybe
(Creation 1994)

1. Rock 'n' Roll Star
2. Shakermaker
3. Live Forever
4. Up in the Sky
5. Columbia
6. Supersonic
7. Bring It on Down
8. Cigarettes & Alcohol
9. Digsy's Dinner
10. Slide Away
11. Married with Children

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First of all, let's consider the times which were numbered '1994' and it's easy to see that it didn't take much to make a serious artistic statement. Grunge had all but eliminated the concept of fun (even if the sleaze previously had all but eliminated the concept of good taste) so basically the main musical paradigm was in ruins and it took britpop to revive some of the good old values. And 'revive' is the word here, mind you, because the one thing that Noel Gallagher brought to rock history was the humble concept of merely writing a good song and get together a decent band to perform it to the masses, and I'd say in that respect that was enough to make this album a relative winner (with a little help from his cocky little brother, of course).

It all starts off in a very apt way with "Rock'n roll star" in which Liam belts out his (or Noel's) dream of making it big, which is exactly what they did and in that very light you simply cannot put it down. An upbeat rocker which sounds as fresh as ever. The following "Shakermaker" however, seems to strive for old blues values and within the context as well as through the Gallagher treatment (i.e. loud and messy guitars) that only makes it tedious, and I'd say that "Cigarettes & alcohol" suffers for the exact same reasons, only this time they try to emulate blues-rock as differed from just blues. Stay clear, boys! Another waste of space is the Blur-ripoff "Columbia" whose only trace of distinctiveness lies in the three chords that keep repeating over the trip-hoppy beat throughout the whole song. What made them think that would be a good idea? "Tomorrow never knows" it is not, I tell you! Yet another stinker is the punkish "Bring it on down" (are they trying to rip off Zeppelin as well?) which doesn't even have a melody and the guitars are just a big undistinguishable mess without a single hint of actual power to them.

Okay, there goes the crap (apart from the opening track then) so let's aim the spotlight on the numbers that makes the album worth our while, shall we? The appropriately titled "Up in the sky" continues the line of "Rock'n roll star" in its cheerfulness, and it's maybe even better if only for Liam's outstanding performance. I just love that line where he glides into falsetto at the end of each verse line and even the guitars gets a chance to breathe in the relatively airy atmosphere of the song. Swell! Same goes for the Kinks-like "Digsy's dinner" in which even the lyrics seem to draw upon the everyday imagery of Ray Davies, even if the prolonged dinner invitation ends up more parodic rather than honoring, and once again they could have toned down the distortion to make it even more crisp, but hey, it's short and direct so I'm not really complaining. Nice touch of relative variety with the piano too. The closing acoustic "Married with children", nice at it is, seems oddly out of place in the otherwise guitar-rich context and it would possibly have worked out better somewhere in the middle as a nice breather in between all the onslaught.

But the real chef d'oeuvres are the three tracks scattered in the midst of it all. "Live forever" is an instant classic and possibly one of the best songs to ever have come out from Noel's pen. And it was a hit too, imagine that! The verse lines in all their simplicity are just marvellous and together with the crashing chorus they provide us with some prime example of how to write a simple yet classic pop song. Nothing groundbreaking whatsoever, just a killer melody, that's all! The somewhat more bombastic "Supersonic", also a hit single, is no worse; borrowing the chords from The Who's "I can see for miles" and the rythm from Hendrix's "Purple haze" and leading into the magnificent chorus as self-evident as anything, it's another deserved classic. Even more bombastic is "Slide away" which may as well be the absolute highlight on the album as well as a could-have-been-great way to end it all, had it not been for that acoustic ditty afterwards. It milks the "Supersonic" vibe even further, although in a much more melancholic mode and Liam really gives it all with a desperate intonation that almost makes you feel that he for once knows what he's singing about, and sincerely at that.

So with the formula firmly in place from the getgo, this probably remains their best piece of work ever and with such a limited scope of talent within the band it couldn't help but going downward from here, even if the successor sure had its share of winners too. And like I already mentioned, the overall soundscape is next to unbearable if you're not able to oversee the monotonous guitar assault and lack of arrangement, although this is as good as they would ever get in that department, at least until the more recent releases when they finally began to grasp the subtle art of studio trickery. But until then, a little songwriting and youthful enthusiasm will do.

Review: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - s/t

Emerson, Lake & Palmer
(Island, Manticore 1970)


1. The Barbarian
2. Take A Pebble
3. Knife-Edge
4. The Three Fates
- Clotho (Royal Festival Hall Organ)
- Lachesis (Piano Solo)
- Atropos (Piano Trio)
5. Tank
6. Lucky Man

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If you're aspiring to get into these guys, I would strongly advice you to do so from the very beginning with the recording of their 1970 performance on the Isle of Wight Festival (released in 1997) in order to truly acknowledge just how big, bold, brash and professional they were from the very start. Now, since I've made it a personal rule not to review any live albums, I won't include it here but I may as well give away that it consists of half their debut, a full performance of "Pictures at an exhibition" and a killer version of "Rondo", inherited from The Nice. And it is important to take this performance in account because apart from a warmup gig somewhere, it's their first concert ever (or as the announcer puts it: "their very first debut performance", just as not to understate the fact) which speaks volumes about their braveness. Of course, they were already seasoned musicians but as a unity to throw themselves out in the air with no safety net and into their already fully charged set with such stamina as they did, and at a legendary music festival at that, is something whose equivalence I am yet to see in the music business. I'd go as far as saying that if anything, that very performance effectively landmarked the 70's and you-will-have-to-get-that-album-at-all-costs in order to grasp what these guys were all about! (The cannons have to be seen to be fully appreciated though).

Now, let's talk about this here album. As I said, half of it is to be found on the Isle of Wight setlist, more precisely the first half. It greets you with a swooping fuzzed-out-of-hell bassline and a dissonant organ swirling all around in "The barbarian", heralding the way of something that instantly lets you know that this is gonna be otherworldly. Essentially it's a reworked piece originally penned by Béla Bartók but I don't have much to say about that since I haven't heard the original. This here workout rules though and it was used as a concert opener during the beginning of their career. Past the gruelling intro it transforms into a jolly piano piece that vaguely resembles the aforementioned "Rondo", before finally crashing down where it once begun. Swell! Another hard-hitting track is "Knife edge", once again partly based upon some works of Bach and Leoš Janácek but it's the surprisingly heavy verse parts that makes this one a tour de force, with a dead simple, almost Uriah Heep-ish in nature, descending riff upon which Lake weaves his powerful voice. Of course, classical purists will probably wrinkle their nose at this supposed slaughter of classical stuff, but what business do those people have in rock music anyway? I mean, apart from telling you that Beatles aren't as profound as Tchaikovsky?

"The three fates" continues the classical excursion of Emerson, although this time he thought it up himself with the first part being all church organ, the second part being all piano and the third part a jazzy bolero-like shuffle on several pianos. It only goes to show just how skilled this dude is but as listenable music pieces it's not that much to write home about. The same goes for "Tank" in which Palmer at least proves himself worthy of a drum solo spot in contrast to John Bonham (or even worse, Bill Ward) and the surrounding parts ain't half-bad either as Emerson spices things up with a clavinet on ultra-speed. And of course we have the all-time favourite "Lucky man" (no, not that Verve crap, you trendy nit-wit!) that Lake allegedly penned when he was only 12 years old. That's as may be, but it's a nice acoustic breather after all the instrumental onslaught which it winds up.

However, the real highlight is his other contribution "Take a pebble" which is only a mellotron away from being a bona-fide King Crimson track, only Crimson would ruin it with oceans of unlistenable drivel and name it "Moonchild". On here though, it's treated with multiple instrumental passages in between the grand and gorgeous verses on courtesy of Lake continuing the equally grand tradition of "Epitaph". Apart from that, they manage to squeeze in a fast and dexterious jazz-style interpretation of the verse melody on piano, a light-hearted acoustic country-ish shuffle to lighten things up and a fugue-like piano passage on which the whole band joins in to conclude it all before the final verse kicks in as if to remind you where we were. I tell ya, this track alone makes the album an essential listen and it remained a concert favourite for years to come.

All in all, an essential listen albeit slightly raw and it can't help but leave you with a feeling of underarrangement as a unity. That's not too surprising since it's A) their first and B) mainly built upon their live setting where instrumental show-offs were more essential than actual songcraft. The lengthy piano passages may scare away many an aspiring fan, and to be frank, I myself am not that keen on those parts either. The collective efforts on the other hand, make it well worth the money, especially on the first half of the record. You just have to look past the song-by-song presumption and digest it as a unity consisting of parts rather than actual songs. Or skip it for the time being and proceed to "Tarkus" or "Trilogy".

Led Zeppelin III
(Atlantic 1970)

1. Immigrant Song
2. Friends
3. Celebration Day
4. Since I've Been Loving You
5. Out on the Tiles
6. Gallows Pole
7. Tangerine
8. That's the Way
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
10. Hats Off to (Roy) Harper

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So, what do you want me to say about this album? That it's the first unplugged metal album, heralding the way for Nirvana some 20 years before the word 'unplugged' even was invented and that it let the beer-drinking crowd down in its lack of electric onslaught at the time of release? Blah blah blah, you know the drill; the Zepsters took off to the countryside and wrote an album's worth of acoustic folk ditties in order to express their artistic independence and came out with something that over time has been regarded as quite a controversial move. Well, as is the case with tenacious rock myths, that's only partly true; first of all, it wasn't very controversial at all, because they had always had that folk heritage in them, as present on songs like "Black mountain side", "Babe, I'm gonna leave you" and "Ramble on" so it was only natural to expand on that formula. Besides, this album has its share of crunching heavy rock as well, some of it among the heaviest they ever did, so screw the generalizations!

When I think of it, "III" actually contains what I consider to be their highest percentage of good songs yet, interspersed with only a handful of relative letdowns, and the acoustic approach manages to bring forth some of the prettiest melodies ever to have passed through any mixer table under Page's supervision. "That's the way" and "Tangerine", the two mellow ballads, are simply gorgeous and especially the former manages to conjure up images of laid back summer evenings in a setting of lush foilage. That resort to the Bron-Y-Aur cottage wasn't such a bad idea, after all. The song it gave name to, "Bron-Y-Aur stomp", is just a lot of fun, once again perfectly matching the cheerful lyrics about such earthbound subjects as countryside walks. The arrangement of "Gallows pole" is in the same vein, featuring celtic overtones and some rednecky banjos toward the end, and then there's the mantraic "Friends" with drones of violins drawing upon arabic influences, making it sound very plaintive. All of these tracks set a certain 'foresty' mood which I can't help but digging, especially on a summer's day when rain hangs in the air, and as far as acoustic folk shuffles go, they would never surpass this batch of songs ever again. Oh, and to get it over with, "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" is just a piece of tuneless, ear-piercing crap and I don't care if it's supposed to sound like 'authentic delta blues'; this ain't no Mississippi delta in the 1920's, it's countryside Britain 1970 damnit! But it's tacked right onto the end, so it doesn't really spoil the picture.

But even with all this, there's still the metallic side left, and it doesn't disappoint. "Immigrant song" slaps you right in the face with chasmic wailings from Plant over an instantly recognizable rythmic octave riff, fully compatible with the norse imagery it displays during its mere two minutes. The somewhat similar "Celebration day" and "Out on the tiles" work just fine as album tracks, both sporting surprisingly uplifting choruses, but the real treat comes with their finest take on the classic blues ever; "Since I've been loving you". That one is simply breathtaking on every count, and they obviously took good care of the chord structure as well as the stunning build-up of tension throughout. The guitar solos are top-notch, Plant is fully adequate in his roaring and the organ adds that final touch that makes it one of their absolute masterpieces. This is heavy blues-rock taken to its absolute height, I tell ya!

Now that I've seen it written before me, I can honestly say that apart from that Roy Harper disgrace, this album contains no low point at all even if the overall atmosphere is quite laid-back (despite outbursts like "Immigration song" and "Since I've been loving you") and most of the tracks ranging from mediocre to just good. But like I already mentioned, it's the overall mood that really captures me this time, and that reminds me what really attracted me about Led Zep once upon a time, and still attracts me for that matter: The songwriting may be so-so, but as mood setters they simply can't be beat.

Led Zeppelin II
(Atlantic/Polydor 1969)

1. Whole Lotta Love
2. What Is and What Should Never Be
3. The Lemon Song
4. Thank You
5. Heartbreaker
6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)
7. Ramble On
8. Moby Dick
9. Bring It On Home

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So, what do you want me to say about this album? That it's the second heavy metal album, still released one year before Sabbath's debut (or rather, the year before)? What would anyone want me to say about Zeppelin anyway? Let's get on with some more middle-ground controversy before someone discovers the sheer redundance of these reviews. This was actually my first acquaintance with the Zepsters once upon a time, which in turn means that what I initially had to build my notion on them on was undoubtedly their loudest and heaviest record ever, overflowing with crunchy, almost gravelly guitar histrionics. I guess one could hold the grainy and crackling production against it, but for one thing, it would be rather stupid since Page first of all already was a renowned production ace, and further on, he tried to - and did - produce heavy music in a time when there was no such thing as heavy music (almost, anyway) so it ends up being just as startling as, say, Hendrix's debut in all its calculated unpolishedness.

This is one album that first and foremost has to be judged from the point of view of the riffs rather than anything, and in that respect it doesn't disappoint. It commences with (a laugh, for about half a second before it proceeds with) one of the most classic heavy riffs ever in "Whole lotta love". Apart from that riff there is virtually no composing gone into it whatsoever, and the vocal lines are lifted from "You need lovin'" as performed by Small Faces three years earlier (which means that you'll have to check that one out), but oh my, what a performance! It continues the line of "Dazed & confused" with the psychedelic mid-section, only substituting the violin bowings with a Theremin, but the actual meat is as powerful as they would ever get and even if it's overplayed and overpraised, I for one cannot escape it being one of their most stellar moments. But don't let it overshadow "Heartbreaker" featuring yet another classic riff as well as a dexterious guitar break foreboding gazillions of future shredders, but let's not forget who's first and who's just a tasteless rip-off (*cough* Van Halen *cough*, who by the way didn't invent tapping, Steve Hackett did!). And then we have "What is and what should never be" which at gunpoint would be my bet for the best track on here, once again displaying the light-and-shade with quiet, almost jazzy, verses juxtaposed with the crashing descending chorus line.

A couple of notches below, but still on a relatively high level I'd put "The lemon song" in which they indulge in a dozen old blues tunes which all sound the same but are given a fierce guitar treatment which will give you a headache on first listen, and the sugary "Thank you" which is just a cozy little ballad with an inobtrusive melody and a tasteful organ (Jones again, of course). Then however, we're starting to tread some swampy water with the closing "Bring it on home" whose main riff is good but wasted on a rather meaningless song in the same vein as "How many more times", and the supposedly 'authentic' delta blues intro with a muddy harmonica doesn't do anything for me. Neither does "Living loving maid" whose main feature is that it's... fast, and "Ramble on" just plainly sucks. And of course, the piece de resistance "Moby Dick" is a drum solo and thusly cannot even be regarded as a song. I admit that it's impressive to bang the drumheads with one's bare palms and all, but from what I've learned this very track is assembled from bits and pieces of several different takes taped during various sessions and in that respect it seems all but totally useless. At least the live version was a bit more arranged on Bonzo's part (naturally) as well as more coherent.

It may be their heaviest record ever, but I wouldn't call it their best since I don't care that much for Zeppelin as a 'heavy' band. They were more about setting a certain 'mood', if you like, and they would indeed go on and explore that angle more effectively on the following albums. And if you're looking for something truly hard'n heavy you might as well skip to the next year and "Deep Purple in rock" for hard and Black Sabbath's debut for heavy.

Review: Led Zeppelin - s/t

Led Zeppelin
(Atlantic/Polydor 1969)

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me
4. Dazed and Confused
5. Your Time Is Gonna Come
6. Black Mountain Side
7. Communication Breakdown
8. I Can't Quit You Baby
9. How Many More Times

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So, what do you want me to say about this album? That it's the first heavy metal album, released at least one year before Sabbath's debut? Forget it, I won't say that. Not because it isn't true or anything, it's just that it doesn't matter since I'm setting out to write about the contents and not its historical importance (which nonetheless is quite big, and that's how much we're going to talk about that). What matters though, is that it hits you over the head from the press play in such an astonishing way that even today in the year 2011, with all the metallic waters under the bridge, it's not that hard to imagine its impact when it was released over 40 years ago. I even remember my first impression when I, after careful investigation of my musical preference conditions visavi the first generation of heavy rock during my teens, installed it into my CD player; from the very first few thumping bars of "Good times, bad times" I knew that I had discovered a band that would rarely let me down (for a few years). It may be but a bagatelle, but I still think it's one of the best tracks on here. Short, sharp and crisp with a blistering guitar assault after the second round, as well as showcasing Bonzo's lightning-fast bass pedal in the verses, albeit not making that much of an impression these days as I since has learned how to emulate them myself but nonetheless having quite an impact upon me as a newly aspiring drummer boy way back when. All in all, a killer tune.

Already on the second track you're greeted with a thorough display of Page's alleged amibition of his 'light-and-shade' juxtaposition, with their rendition of an old folk tune in "Babe, I'm gonna leave you". I'd say that if anything, it successfully heralds the way for "Stairway to heaven", not least since the intro pattern is almost the same, but on here it's much more tense and foreboding and indeed alternated with full frontal assaults with an amount of power and frenzy that was rarely matched ever since, all the while with Plant plaintively assuring you that he is gonna leave you, and there's nothing you can do about it! The best known track on here is no less dramatic; "Dazed and confused" is undoubtedly one of the all-time Zep classics, showcasing just about everything that makes them worth your while. An ominous bass line, the pinging wahwah picks, Plant's battle cry which by the way is right up to the point on this studio version; I've never cared much for the live rendition which later on would showcase his off-melody ramblings, not to mention the lack of tightness which is all but present here (although it sure was a visual highlight with Pagey's bowings and all). Oh yeah, and the fast mid-section which showcases their ability to do fast mid-sections. You should be aware though, that a lot of these songs, "Dazed" included, are merely reworkings of older songs so their strength doesn't lie as much in the composing as in the arrangement, and quite a lot of their best songs get along mainly on the blistering performance and not on the melody. Whatever, "Dazed" is worth the entire album alone.

The lack of actual songwriting though becomes apparent on most of the remaining tracks where the excitement is all hung up on how much they can twist the ol' folk 'n blues to their advantage. See, after the massive impact of "Babe" and "Dazed" (and possibly "You shook me") there isn't that much going on here after all. "Communication breakdown" is a classic, of course, but I'm not a big fan of its punkish abandon really. "Black mountain side" is a nice showcase of Page's acoustics, but once again carried over from his Yardbirds days. The two slow blues workouts "You shook me" and "I can't quit you baby" are just dull, although the former at least displays some very impressing chops on their part, especially Plant going in total overdrive. "Your time is gonna come" isn't worth shit apart from the very moody and very unfitting church organ intro (on courtsey of Jones, who else would save the day?), and the closing "How many more times" is based upon exactly one riff which they overabuse ad infinitum.

At the end of the day, what saves this record is the band's sheer power and dexterity which hold even the weakest tracks above the water (apart from "Your time is gonna come", that one was beyond repair from the start) and that may as well be enough. And nothing in the world will ever prevent it from being one of the most exciting debut albums in the history of rock. Or death metal.

Review: Uriah Heep - Very 'eavy, very 'umble

Very 'eavy, very 'umble
(Vertigo 1970)

1. Gypsy
2. Walking In Your Shadow
3. Come Away Melinda
4. Lucy Blues
5. Dreammare
6. Real Turned On
7. I'll Keep On trying
8. Wake Up (Set Your Sights)

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I suppose some of you know the story of Uriah Heep rehearsing in the room next to a newly reformed Deep Purple and how they adopted their special brand of organ/guitar interplayed heavy rock. Not that it matters much since Heep from the very beginning were set to try out just about anything that made them look cool. It took some time before they eventually gelled together around their own brand of pseudo-art metal, but there are already traces of the future to be found on this rough-edged debut that's literally all over the place. Perhaps one reason that they couldn't settle in the beginning was the unstable lineup. The band was formed around the core members, guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Ken Hensley and singer David byron, and in addition Paul Newton on bass guitar and Alex Napier on drums. Napier obviously didn't get along with the others and was temporarily replaced by Elton John's drummer boy Nigel Olsson about halfway through the recording of this album.

The songs themselves are mainly written by Box and Byron, apart from Newton's "Dreammare" (is that even a word?) and "Come away Melinda", apparently a cover. None of these two tracks are particularily representative of the things that would be though; The former is a primitive proto-metal, good-for-nothing ripoff of Zeppelin's "Your time is gonna come", showcasing lyrics depicting a nightmare and a stupid "lalalalala" climax which heralds their bad habit of filling lyrical space with nonsense. "Melinda" is slightly better, although I don't feel that neither they themselves nor the actual song match the intended sincerity, and it's mainly carried forth by Byron's nonetheless tender voice which he already manages to modulate in an impressive way. The blues workout "Lucy blues" can be dumped in the trashbin as well, as it adds nothing to their own significance and besides, I personally don't care much for blues in the first place, even if it's properly executed. Don't try to pass on faked crap like this! Thankfully, they wouldn't try to ever again. The two pedestrian Free-style rockers, "Walking in your shadow" and "Real turned on", are not much to write home about either.

So, having got the duffers out of the way, we can start concentrating on the good sides of the album. It starts off with a bang, as you all know. "Gypsy" is an instant classic and leads the way of how to make the best out of exactly one riff, and the most primitive riff imaginable at that. After the somewhat ambitious lead-in section it just proceeds to trample on everything in its way, like a bulldozer or a Godzilla or a brigade of stormtroopers or a... well, you get the idea. It just drags you along wether you want it or not, through the caves of operatic screams and the stormy battlefields of swirling organs. This is some mighty headbang for the bucks! Another interesting track is the closing "Wake up" with its naive anti-war lyrics, although set to a strangely adequate jazz-rock backdrop, almost reminding of Soft Machine in places. I say it works!

My personal bet for the best track on here though, is the oddly ignored "I'll keep on trying", the closest in style of what they would pursue later on. A moody organ-driven intro, interrupted by the trademark wailings before switching gears completely with the metallic guitar break, topped with peculiar bass triplets played at lightning speed underneath the rising lead lines leading into the very Sabbathesque verses. (That was a mouthful already! There's a lot going on in this song). And I'm really fond of the calm bridge section about two minutes in, where Byron really gets to shine as a melodic and powerful vocalist over the slowly ascending intensity of the lush backdrop, relieved by Box's furious wah-wah solo. Oh yes, everyone gets a share of the pie on this one and it's a shame that it seems to pass unnoticed even by fans.

So, a very sprawling debut with next to no focus that nonetheless serves as a token of the times. The heavy approach is already firmly in place but they don't yet know quite what to do with it, since they obviously didn't wanna get stuck merely in the "Gypsy" formula. Too bad they still did, then. (Joking, of course. But only slightly).

Review: Caravan - s/t

Caravan
(Decca/Verve 1968)

1. Place of my Own
2. Ride
3. Policeman
4. Love Song with Flute
5. Cecil Rons
6. Magic Man
7. Grandma's Lawn
8. Where but for Caravan Would I?

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Somwhere around 1967 after the Wilde Flowers had withered, half of the crew proceeded to invent a soft machine in order to explore the depths of the London underground. When the other half heard about their venture they decided to scrap together yet another band and dub it Caravan, and listening to this debut sure makes you feel that the very name is sensed in the music. It's nothing short of a caravan of massive sounds stately and steadily proceeding through your speakers and into your subconsciousness. That statement may seem somewhat exaggerated now but consider that this was 1968, before all the crimson kings and armadillo tanks and ready suppers and all that. The closest equivalent I can think of at this point is Procol Harum, but they were still sporting a more soulish brand of baroque-tinged rock whereas Caravan went down the majestic route as well as spicing it up with playful folk-jazz passages, like in "Love song with flute", one of the best tracks on here.

You might as well already get adjusted to the weak singing voice of Pye Hastings (very weak actually, in places sounding like on the verge of cracking, carefully balancing on the right note) which would get better over the ensuing albums, but personally I don't really mind (I've heard much worse, especially considering the swedish indie scene) as it suits the songs well. He's occasionally assisted by Richard Sinclair who technically has got a better voice but there's something about it that ever so slightly annoys me. It's a bit meek and syrupy, but I'm not really complaining as it works as a good counterpart to Pye's whiney falsetto.

The songs cook however, and it starts off with a true highlight in "Place on my own" where the aforementioned grandness, emphasized by the echoey production and the somewhat foreboding intro/verse parts and the organ-led interlude make for a great contrast with the uplifting chorus. "Love song" is, like I said, another favourite with its wonderfully sharp transition into the chorus, as well as the closing "Where but for Caravan would I" showing the first signs of true prog dexterity, not least in its multi-part structure. "Magic man" is also a highlight, effectively working its way through three looping chords on which they weave several different melodies.

Out of the rest of the tracks I feel "Grandma's lawn" and "Policeman" to be a bit iffy even if the latter sports an obvious nod to Beatles in its McCartneyesque melody. (And it's always fun to bash the law enforcements every now and then). "Cecil Rons" is a lot of fun though, with a faux-scary organ arrangement underpinning a nursery rhyme not unlike The Who's "Silas Stingy". Finally there's the conga-driven mantra "Ride" that surely conjures the feeling of a caravan making its way out from Canterbury to wherever they ended up. Or more figuratively, from the humble beginnings of artrock into the vast and yet unknown terrain of progressive rock. Groovy!

In the land of grey and pink: Caravan reviewed

Where but for Caravan would I?

Introduction

Caravan is probably my main candidate for being the nicest bunch of artsy dudes of the prog movement in the early 70's. Their output simply reeks of sunshine and you can't go wrong with just about any of their records for breakfast as the start of a much better day than it would have been otherwise. For some reason they seem to have been overlooked, not only among the general public (as always) but in the art/prog community as well and that's really a shame. Because not only were they there from the very beginning, releasing their first album even before King Crimson had the chance of blowing our minds with their apocalyptic chops. They were also a force to be reckoned with among the other giants of the era and, taken as a whole, their output is actually far more even than most prog bands.

True, that sort of vouches for mediocrity and I admit that nothing in their catalog ever really woos me over like, say, "Close to the edge" does, but on the other hand Caravan has actually pulled off the feat of having virtually no serious duffer on any of their records (bar a couple of tracks which I'll get back to in due time, but who's perfect besides Columbo?). Pye Hastings proved to be quite a songwriter and combined with his thin and shakey voice he sort of underlined Caravan as one of the most perfect implementations of a white-ass nerd band not having neither the capabilities nor aspirations to rock the house down and get into girl's knickers (figuratively speaking of course, and being a white-ass nerd myself I mean that in a positive way).

As you all know they began in a local band called The Wilde Flowers together with to-be-members of Soft Machine, and were one main force in the so-called Canterbury scene. That term alone won't reveal much though and apart from the organ and some jazzy passages Caravan really didn't have anything in common with the fellow Canterbury colleagues musically. Their approach were just as much lush pop as it was jazz-tinged prog rock and in stature I'd say it's more appropriate to compare their music to baroque-influenced bands like Procol Harum and Zombies rather than the progressive contemporaries like Yes and Genesis. But they sure could prog out when they wanted to; They have several tricky songs as well as multi-part epics in their backpack and I believe they are definitely the best of the Canterbury bunch. Later on they more or less abandoned the prog route and went for the pure baroque pop sound instead, which they stuck with until they disbanded in the late 70's.

Lineup then: Pye Hastings - guitar and vocals, Dave Sinclair - keyboards, Richard Sinclair - bass guitar, Richard Coughlan - drums. That's basically what you need to know although some member changes took place down the line, with Hastings being the only consistent member together with Coughlan as his trusty sidekick.

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Oh, and after the band broke up, Pye Hastings would go on to become a successful talkshow host.

The endless enigma: Emerson, Lake & Palmer reviewed

Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends!

Introduction

The first thing you'll ever learn about these guys is that they were the first 'supergroup' of the proggern hemisphere. Who cares? You have to be above average to get a visa into that district anyway, because if you're not you'll end up in Uriah Heep. The second thing is that they made their living on hyper-fast semi-classical excourses on anything equipped with ivories, preferrably connected to sci-fi modulators (courtesy of Keith Emerson), hyper-fast machine gun drumming on anything equipped with a skin (courtesy of Carl Palmer) and suspiciously mellow folk balladry about anything equipped with a vagina (courtesy of Greg Lake). Every now and then though, they got together around lengthy pieces aspiring to one-up just about any modern classical composer in existence and in the process came up with some of the finest prog epics known to man. You see, this is one band where prog intiation is all but obligatory for anyone to have a decent chance to get into, and I don't really think that anyone with much more humble taste would have that much need for Lake's ballads alone. Not that they are bad or anything, quite the opposite, but we'll get to that in due time.

Anyhoo, they got together as a result of Keith Emerson's, freshly out of The Nice, ambition to expand the boundaries of three-piece bands in 1970. He teamed up with bass player/guitarist/singer Greg Lake, who was right in the midst of recording "In the wake of Poseidon" with King Crimson but decided ELP was a better shot, and drum ace Carl Palmer who was to be found in Atomic Rooster (which you by the way really should check out; Art metal began here and not with Uriah Cheap) as well as being an Arthur Brown graduate. And I'm gonna take the opportunity to debunk a widespread myth here; Hendrix was not considered as a fourth member (which would have yielded the abbreviation "HELP") since Emerson was keen on preserving the trio format from the very beginning, and I've got at least one fairly recent in-depth interview with Carl Palmer in a magazine to back it up. From the very beginning they pulled all the stops on their live performances with Emerson straddling his Hammond organ the same way that Hendrix straddled his guitar, making it scream and moan with feedback and all kinds of unholy noices, occasionally crowning it all with daggers between the keys. Trust me, you gotta see it if you haven't already! What he should be revered for though, is his classically tinged finger-flashing over the whole thing. He could pull out just about anything from his sleeve, from rag-time barroom piano to Bach-fugues at the speed of light. Of course, he had already made a name for himself in The Nice, but it was in ELP it rose to the sky really. And don't forget his toying with all those Moog synthesizers which he actually helped develop with Bob Moog himself at the time.

Obviously the center of attention, but do not forget that he was backed up by one of the finest rythm sections in prog as well. Carl Palmer may not be the fastest drummer in the world, but he sure is the fastest drummer I know of that simultaneously could swing and deliver something more than just robotic noice. After all, he took his inspiration from such giants as Buddy Rich, didn't he? And then Greg Lake, a great bass player in his own rights who on occasion had to switch to guitar to fill in the gaps, and on top of that crowned the songs with one of the best voices in rock. Bombastic but yet humane and delicate. Listen to what he does on tracks like "The great gates of Kiev" and compare it with "The sage" or "Living sin". Talk about versatility! And he was also responsible for the more melodic and accessible elements of ELP's output and all of their albums sports at least one stripped-down acoustic ballad on courtesy of him.

So there, the scene is set. Now what? Full frontal prog that managed to write itself into the history books as one of the most bloated, self-indulgent, escessive and pretentious acts of the whole movement. That's what the critics will tell you wether they like it or not, but that's not the whole picture. They were never strangers to silly little send-ups (or the aforementioned acoustic stuff) either, to spice up the flow on their albums and those who claim that progsters took themselves much too seriously have obviously missed out on songs like "Benny the bouncer". Of course, none of the occasional detours would overshadow their main schtick which was the grandiose epics and Emerson's lengthy keyboard excesses. But that's alright with me, because they are among the greatest epics and keyboard excesses ever captured on magnetic tape. I just don't want you to forget they were much more multi-faceted than they normally get credit for.

As is the case with many prog acts though, their heydays didn't quite survive the post-prog environment and they didn't exactly end it with a bang either towards the end of the decade. They have occasionally reunited to release stuff from the mid-80's and onward but I'm not familiar with that part of their career. Up until the mid-70's though, they were stratospheric and you may lov'em or hate'em but you gotta give'em their due for not giving a damn. Roll up, roll up! See the show!

Easy livin': Uriah Heep reviewed

Stranger than the sunrise, darker than the night

Introduction

Very 'eavy and not at all 'umble, Uriah Heep were the fourth of the 'big three' in the first generation of heavy metal (and if you don't know which three, go straight to prison, don't collect $50!). They are by no means my favourite band, not even in the hard rock genre, but there once was a period of time during which they were. And in retrospect it's not that hard to see why. See, they were there from the very beginning, 1969 and onward, so obviously they must be the real deal, right? And they rocked just as hard as any metal act of the era with their uncompromising thumping anthems which vouched for some serious headbanging, right? And they did this in total harmony with bombastic melodies and artsy arrangements, sometimes bordering on symphonic prog which surely satisfied even the slightly more intelligent listener, right?

Well, not quite. See, Uriah Heep are essentially a dumb band, something which I definitely would not acknowledge way back when I propagated to my friends the awesomeness of "Demons & wizards". That's not to say they were that dumb themselves, but there are three main issues about them that prevent me from taking them very seriously these days. First, they were very limited in songwriting, often laid in the lap of keyboardist Ken Hensley, both from the perspective of a riff-based metal band as well as a melody-based art band. When I think about it, there are very few classic riffs to be found in their catalogue, and none of them are particularily profound unless you count their patented primitive powerchord sequences, established from the very beginning in "Gypsy". And the melodies, albeit slightly better, tend to be equally primitive and repetitive even on the numbers that aim for a higher goal, like "July morning" although this was the schtick they eventually would expand on the most until they degenerated into a bland soft-rock act in the late 70's.

Second, they were inadequate; All of them were decent instrumentalists, but none of them were really able to match some of the ambitions they set up for themselves on the more bombastic numbers (warning example: "The magician's birthday"). Instead they often ended up proving themselves unable to rise above the caveman approach in their lack of chops. And all those tales of wizards and demons and mystery tales and spider women and pilgrims were never backed up by any true substance. You're welcome to prove me wrong, but in the process of showing off their highly superficial literacy they more or less single-handedly invented the whole D&D imagery that to this day has infested heavy metal in general, all through the warriors of power metal, the satanic priests of black metal and the flesh-eating bacteria of death metal. So I gotta give them that; Thanks alot guys, for making generations of kids taking metal too seriously! Really thoughtful of you! In their defence though, Hensley openly admitted that "Demons & wizards" was just "a collection of songs which they had a really good time recording".

Third, they were - and this is the main factor which both of these abovementioned factors are derived from - dumb. This is probably something they were quite aware of themselves, which is why they from time to time allowed themselves a primitive but playful barroom rocker to which you could chug your beer. I admit that this is their most adequate approach and some of the tracks that falls into this category work just fine ("Love machine", "Easy livin'", "Spider woman" etc.) but however adequate in its own field, I still loath this whole approach. See, as differed from the mysticism, it boosted the cock-rock part of the metal community and this is maybe even worse. Anyone participating in clearing the ground for Aerosmith and Kiss, not to mention the hair metal of the 80's, has to be scorned for that. And this third factor is the main foundation of their fanbase, swallowing the bait of artsiness in order to persuade itself of being slightly more intelligent than yer average headbanger, something that the Heepsters have in common with Queen by the way.

But as I said, I used to like them a lot and I still somewhat do, because if I didn't, I wouldn't take all this time to theorize about them. True to what I said above, I reckon them as somewhat groundbreaking in their approach and however bad they were as influences, they were still good in their own right (good bands are often bad influences). Even if they surely rocked hard, I still think their main attraction during the classic years is the often successful simplistic bombast, at least when it's backing up a profound melody, and their harmonies simply cannot be beat. They are sometimes deemed as a 'poor man's Deep Purple", although I feel that is an unfair comparisation. Apart from the organ, which besides always were more prominent in Heep, they had little in common with Purple, much less Sabbath although some of Heep's more laid-back numbers bore some resemblance of Zeppelin in folksy mode. But all in all, Heep sure had an original sound which, as I hinted above, sort of pinoeered the use of opera-tinged bombast which Queen would expand on later on. And they have their fair share of good, and even awesome, songs as well. Just remember to never ever take their lyrics into account.

So, with the beneficial stand of a deeply rooted acquintance combined with a notably more critical view induced by time, consider these reviews as me washing my hands of both the undeserved scorn and the uncalled for praise for the arguably fourth best metal band of all time.