CAPTAIN BEYOND — Dawn Explosion (review)

CAPTAIN BEYOND — Dawn Explosion album cover Album · 1977 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Dawn Explosion" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US hard rock act Captain Beyond. The album was released through Warner Bros. Records in 1977. The band had broken up by the end of 1973 but reformed again in 1976 with new lead vocalist Willie Daffern. He replaces Rod Evans (Ex-Deep Purple). Drummer Bobby Caldwell, bassist Lee Dorman (Ex-Iron Butterfly) and guitarist Larry Reinhardt are still featured in the lineup, who recorded the band´s second album "Sufficiently Breathless (1973)".

The music style on the album is hard rock in the softer end of the spectrum and I´m reminded more than one time of Wishbone Ash in their mid 70es period and albums like "There´s the Rub (1974)", "Locked In (1976)", "New England (1976)" and "Front Page News (1977)". I was really impressed with Captain Beyond´s 1972 self-titled debut album which is through and through a fantastic album and I thought "Sufficiently Breathless (1973)" was decent too, but on "Dawn Explosion" it´s like the music lacks power and soul. New lead vocalist Willie Daffern has a somewhat similar sounding voice to Rod Evans but he isn´t nearly as convincing as Evans. The three veterans in the band, who handle the instrumental part of the music, are all skilled musicians and that´s fortunately obvious throughout the album.

"Dawn Explosion" feautures a decent sound production that suits the music. Compared to the more layered sound on "Sufficiently Breathless (1973)" (which featured an omnipresent piano), the sound on "Dawn Explosion" is a more stripped down and hard rocking affair. Still it´s like the tracks are a bit halfbaked and uninspired, and paired with the fact that Willie Daffern isn´t exactly a reinforcement on the lead vocalist spot, "Dawn Explosion" isn´t the comeback it could have been. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.
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