ATOMIC ROOSTER — Atomic Roooster (review)

ATOMIC ROOSTER — Atomic Roooster album cover Album · 1970 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
Certif1ed
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was an amazing band - with no member more amazing than Arthur himself, whose vocal pyrotechnics are a complete joy to behold, providing a range of styles and techniques rarely heard in the world of rock or pop music combined with an instinctive feel for the dramatic. A most undersung hero, I think.

As Warthur notes, at the time, Hammond power trios were ten-a-penny - and it's worth checking out the amazing Atilla, led by none other than piano man, Mr Billy Joel, even though Atilla are, strictly speaking, a Hammond duo rather than a trio. You want wild, metal craziness? It's right there!

Meanwhile, back at the farm, the Rooster's first outing is a so-so affair, and not really of interest to metal fans, hence the low rating.

The opener, Friday The Thirteenth is a slightly out-of-tune mishmash that seems to aim at the heavier side of the Prog market - a dark flavoured organ driven piece, and, if I'm not mistaken, there is an uncredited guitar in there padding out the sound.

The organ solo is deeply inspired by the likes of Mick Weaver and Alan Hawkshaw - the unmistakable funky licks shining through.

There's quite a cool tension/release dramatic structure overall, and the music seems to segue nicely from one song to another - although some of the overdubs are a little instrusive, like the piano interjections layered over the organ.

Carl Palmer drives the rhythm section on very nicely indeed in a swingin' foot-tappin' manner, with walky bass lines and short, repetitive motifs that hint at riffs, without developing into anything interesting. The music really seems to be trying to recreate the sounds of Kingdom Come, but without Brown, this is a mere shadow. A pretty good, shadow, vocals apart - but Crane's playing is rather messy and spoils it a bit for me.

Continuing in the Mansfield/Hawkshaw/Weaver mould, "Broken Wings" is a nice piece of progressive sounding blues, with some great drumming from Palmer - as you might expect. The brass section seems like an afterthought, like a kind of tribute to Atom Heart Mother.

Although it's fair to say that this album sounds pretty much like almost any other organ-driven act of the time, there is overall a nice tightness to it, a consistently dark flavour, and the amazing instinctive and perfectly tight drumming of Palmer to hold it all together.

It's not worth going through the other tracks except to point out highlights, as there is no metal on this album whatsoever, proto or otherwise and, as has been already pointed out, they do tend to blend together with no real identity.

A collector's item only for fans of 1970s Heavy/Hard/organ-based rock - or Carl Palmer afficiandoes!
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