Unknown Soldier

Don't worry dude, you can be my apprentice or sidekick.

Next entry should be up by tomorrow or Saturday.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Can I wear booty shorts and a cape?

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Unknown Soldier

A tasty slice of Texan hard rock.

Overview
A Texas based quintet that shared the same management as the better known Grand Funk Railroad and also initially benefitted from the production skills of Terry Knight, whose production touch at the time seemed to be a touch of commercial gold for the bands he worked with. The band had a great live show which again has been superbly captured on this album. As a band they were greatly inspired by the heavy organ driven sound of bands like Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple and especially the Doors, they also had a strong vocalist in drummer Jim Rutledge whose vocal style cries of Jim Morrison on numerous cuts throughout this album. Also Lee Pickens must've been one of the most underrated guitarists around at that time and he's certainly a guy that deserves more credit as this album proves. Throughout the album, an avid listener can often pick up the humour that abounds in the lyrics.

Jim Rutledge-Drums/Vocals
Lee Pickens-Guitar
Nick Taylor- Guitar
Ed Grundy- Bass
Steve Hill- Keyboards/Organ

Production- Terry Knight

Album
Gotta Find a Way- A great 6 min plus opener with a the band's full complement firing on all cylinders. Castle of Thought- Now this is one of your typical second tracks on an album. Fatback- Love this song, as the Door's influence is strong here and Jim Rutledge sounds like a gruffer Jim Morrison, and the lyrics are so Doors as well! The song is dominated by a throbbing beat combined with some great work by Steve Hill. Double Cross- One of the best tracks on the album, pulverizing with some exquisite riffing from the underrated Lee Pickens on guitar, at times it sounds like a Deep Purple song. Timepiece- A sombre sounding song that again relies on power and with a heavy Doors twinge. A song that the future Dio could've covered very well and thinking about it Eddie Vedder was made to sing this kind of song as well. Wicked Truth- A nifty sounding song that ticks along with various musical changes throughout. Gimme Your Head- Steady track that leads up to the two finale songs on the album. Fantastic Piece of Architecture- A song that could've blessed any Doors album, accompanied by some superb funeral organ. Melvin Laid an Egg- 7 plus minutes of driving riffs with a very heavy organ accomapaniment.

Verdict
I wouldn't necessarily call Bloodrock a one-trick pony, but from a creative aspect they were never able to match their debut album, despite having a reasonable amount of future commercial success and the rest of their discography often gave over to blander meat and potatoes type hard rock. Bloodrock also never had the longevity of the better known Grand Funk Railroad either. The band though, still seems to have a cult following and usually pop-up when the word "proto-metal" gets mentioned. Therefore making this a good album to check out for anybody interested in this time period, the rest of their discography though is strictly just for fans. After this album, the band actually went onto record their best known song "D.O.A" which features on their second album, which happens to be their best known album as well. I should mention that this is the first and only entry by Bloodrock in this journal, as competition gradually got hotter and hotter as the following years went by.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Keep on jamming you bastards! Part.1

Overview
One of the great success stories of their time. Grand Funk Railroad were one of the biggest and most prolific power-trio outfits to have ever existed and in between the years of 1969-1972 all six of their studio album releases either went platinum or gold. They followed on from the power trios of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Blue Cheer and introduced us to their jamming hard rock style. They hugely benefitted from the production of the already aforementioned Terry Knight (having already worked together on Terry Knight & the Pack a few years earlier) and cut a sound that hit borderline blues rock and hard rock. Their sound was built around extended jamming rather than raw power and this is most evident on their early releases, where there is just so much energy. This album their debut along with their sophomore set (higher on the list) were hallmarks of their time and prove to be the perfect junction between blues rock, hard rock, melodic rock and heavy extended jamming. The band were often criticized over their lack of technical prowess but have always sounded good to my ear. Mark Farner was one hell of a frontman, Don Brewer just thrashed away on the drums and bassist Mel Schacher was the heart of the band's throbbing sound. Mark Farner also dominated proceedings when it came to writing both the music and the lyrics for these early GFR albums.

Mark Farner- Guitar/Vocals
Mel Schacher- Bass
Don Brewer- Drums

Production- Terry Knight

Album
Are You Ready?- An upbeat rocker where Mel Schacher's bass is the dominant instrument here, as it is throughout most of the album. Anybody's Answer- A typical GFR song that is high on energy with a haunting riff that echoes in and out. Time Machine- A typical and steady blues rock shuffle with added harmonica for effect. High on a Horse- Catchy song and one of the shortest on the album. T.N.U.C- An 8 minute track that is just dominated by a drum solo, if you like drum solos check this monkey out. Into the Sun- Mid-tempo instrumental the eventually leads into a funky rocker, this was always a popular song when performed live. Heartbreaker- One of my favourite songs on the album, a love song with a haunting bridge that is the highlight of the song, and the song really picks up towards the end as well. Call Yourself a Man- dominated by what would become a trademark GFR beat, another very good song. Can't Be Too Long- Decent song but at 6 plus minutes its overlong, in fact the song title seems to state this fact as well. Ups and Downs- Album finales are usually amongst the strongest songs on most albums, but this is GFR at their most disjointed, as they try a variety of styles that simply don't work that well. Luckily the rest of the album was very good, so this song can really be overlooked.

Verdict
A superb jamming album that might not be to everybody' s taste, especially since it clocks in at around 50 minutes, which was long for its time. The jamming at times is extensive and this album by some could easily be cast off as one of those examples of instrumental wankery! Much of the criticism aimed at the album, often revolves around misplaced instrumental solos that have a tendency to fit in where more structured instrumentals should be, but that's GFR for you and one of the reasons I love their early work. In some ways I find this album more exciting than the sophomore effort also released the same year (Led Zeppelin would also manage this feat as well) but I've placed the sophomore set higher up on the list, as it's a tighter and a more compact effort that still manages to hold the energy of this album and would prove to be an influential piece of work as well.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Chula Vista

AWESOME thread! Love your reviews of LZ1 and LZ2. Absolutely nailed it.

Did ya know that LZ2 was recorded in 13 different studios in three different countries while the band was touring?

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Mrd00d

Great work so far and so glad to see High Tide! Love that album!

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Mrd00d's Last.fm

Howard the Duck

pretty brilliant thus far

and your Bloodrock review reminded me I needed to get reacquainted with them so I got 2 and USA

Abracadaver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

The Batlord

You've already given me a few albums I need to track down whenever I get off this thrash metal kick I've been on for the last couple days. Really dig the layout. Not too longwinded, but still very interesting.

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Unknown Soldier

Great to see that somebody else knows this album, its a hidden gem that needs to be shared.

As I mentioned never enjoyed the rest of their albums that much. Glad you're enjoying the journal.

When I started doing these reviews, I thought what puts me off when reading some album reviews written by others and that is that they can be longwinded. Therefore I went for a summary type review system.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Mrd00d

My sentiments exactly! Well done!

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Mrd00d's Last.fm