03. Trapeze Medusa 1970 (Threshold)
Hard Rock
Funky hard rock, littered with classic hooks and gems.
Overview
If a rock novice asked me to recommend a couple of the best hard rock albums of the 1970s by well known bands, I'd quickly suggest albums by Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith etc to get them going. But if that same person asked me for something by a lesser known band, then this album from Trapeze would probably be the one I might recommend first. Trapeze were originally a five-piece band from Staffordshire, that focused on a psychedelic sound similar to the Moody Blues and their debut album
Trapeze is an underrated psychedelic album from 1970 and well worth checking out if you're into psychedelia. In fact their first two studio albums would be produced by John Lodge of the Moody Blues linking the two bands together. Soon after their first album though, the band trimmed down to a trio and diverted their sound significantly, transferring all their energies to a hard rock setting. Amazingly in the same year with a change of sound, they would put out their sophomore album
Medusa. This would be hard rock with a distinctive funky twang and unlike say Grand Funk Railroad whose songs were based around exciting jamming sessions, Trapeze based their general sound on well crafted compositions that were built to last. As a power-trio, they would become respected artists in the 1970s by their peers and as individual talents they would later be in demand throughout the decade. In frontmen Glenn Hughes and Mel Galley they had a winning combination of talent, imagination and drive. Glenn Hughes would later go on to become far better known as part of Deep Purple in the mid 1970s, Mel Galley after the demise of Trapeze, would later feature briefly in Whitesnake and drummer Dave Holland would go on to become the drummer in the 1980s for Judas Priest in their golden commercial period.
Glenn Hughes- Bass/Vocals
Mel Galley- Guitar/Vocals
Drums- Dave Holland
Production- John Lodge
Album
Black Cloud- Instantly kicks off with a funky intro before leading into a very soulful burst of vocals from Glenn Hughes, somewhat akin to either Paul Rodgers of Free or Steve Marriot of Humble Pie on this opening track.
Jury- A classic Mel Galley composition that starts off as a ballad, before moving into some amazing sounding crunchy guitar, combined with raspy hard rock vocals before switching back to a heart-searching ballad again, quite simply a fantastic song to listen to.
Your Love is Alright- A mid-tempo blues rocker and a joint band effort, in fact the only track written by all three band members, rather than the Hughes or Galley only compositions.
Touch My Life- Jumpy guitar track and a real killer, it's heavy on funk and very similar sounding to what was being put out by the James Gang at the time.
Seafull- As good as anything that Led Zeppelin ever put out, quite simply an amazing song that covers 6+ minutes, with some amazing guitar laid down by Mel Galley.
Makes You Wanna Cry- A song full of the band's classic sounding hooks, which are littered throughout the track.
Medusa- The classic title track, quite simply another singing lesson here from Glenn Hughes and some outstanding heavy and soft guitar bits by Mel Galley throughout the song.
Verdict
This is a glorious album in every aspect and in any other year, it would've been good enough to have finished in the number one spot (hell it's that special). The strength of the album, is quite simply in its song structures and the individual talents of its three members. The songs on average tend to be long, but boy did this band know how to fill those minutes out with real quality that other bands could only dream about. The originality of the album is superb as well and every song a winning combo, there's not a duffer in sight! The band have quite simply taken the standard blues rock sound, combined that with superb melodies, classic sounding hooks, a live performance atmosphere and coated the whole thing up in a delicious funky feel. In fact few other bands in the heavy category could match this band song for song around this time. The album has a unique feel and on first listen it very much sounds like the whole thing was recorded by an American band and not a British band, which to me adds to its charm. Talking of American, the whole album reminds me of the James Gang and even a future ZZ Top at times, who were tredding similar ground. The vocals of Glenn Hughes added real feeling to the whole album, his vocal range went from raspy hard rock right down to ballady sensitive sounding and with an almost distant feel at times. The album feels so influential at times and it seems that nearly every song on the album, has influenced a whole load of far better known artists throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Acts such as Bad Company (Free trod similiar ground at the time to Trapeze) Nazareth and the Doobie Brothers etc and onto future AOR giants such as Journey and Foreigner. Glenn Hughes would soon jump ship in a few years to the new MK.III Deep Purple line-up and Mel Galley and Dave Holland, would plod on without him......but they could never be the same without Glenn Hughes in the band, also Glenn Hughes would never ever reach the same brilliance with Deep Purple either.
Medusa is quite simply an undoubted classic of its time and overlooked at the listener's peril.