Juggernaut --- Frank Marino --- 1982 (Columbia)
Frank Marino is best known for his association with Canadian rock band Mahogany Rush, but this is his second solo album. Sadly, "Juggermaut" is, well, not. It's not a powerhouse of an album that kicks you in the teeth and demands attention. There are a few bad tracks on it, but the good ones make you forget the bad. "Free", "For your love" and the title are great songs, the latter a real triphammer of a song, powering along like an out-of-control truck ploughing down a freeway in the night. Even "Strange dreams" is not bad, but hardly deserving the accolade afforded it by Howard Johnson of being the ONLY good track on it, reviewing the album in "Kerrang!" back in '82.
For me, the best track is definitely the eight-minute ballad "Stories of a hero", with its intense guitar work, its impassioned vocal and its simple yet powerful anti-war message. The way it gets heavy at the end perfectly gets across Frank's anger at the senseless waste of life and the futility of war. Deserved to be a classic.
"Ditch queen" I could have lived without, ditto "Midnight highway", but overall not bad. More workhorse flatbed than juggernaut, though.
TRACKLISTING
1. Strange dreams
2. Midnight highway
3. Stories of a hero
4. Free
5. Maybe it's time
6. Ditch queen
7. For your love
8. Juggernaut