INDIAN SUMMER — Indian Summer (review)

INDIAN SUMMER — Indian Summer album cover

Album · 1971 · Proto-Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-06-21
siLLy puPPy

INDIAN SUMMER was one of the many one and done prog acts to emerge in the late 60s and stick it out for a few years before disbanding. In its three year existence after forming in 1969 in Coventry, UK, the band released one self-titled album in 1971 on the Neon Records label which hosted other up and coming acts like Spring, Tonton Macoute and Raw Material. The band consisted of lead vocalist / keyboardist Bob Jackson, guitarist / vocalist Colin Williams, drummer Paul Hooper and bassist Malcolm Harker who all made their mark on the college and university circuit which caught the attention of Jim Simpson who was the manager of various bands including Black Sabbath and Bakerloo.

The band performed a lighter version of progressive heavy rock with a strong emphasis on keyboard runs much in the vein of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep but delivered its recipe of organ-fueled rock with more restraint. The album featured eight tracks that added up to almost 50 minutes of playing time which surely must have been the upper limits of playing time on vinyl LPs at the time. INDIAN SUMMER's sound was sort of the light and fluffy version of heavier rock with a gentle melodic approach that offered there standard guitar, bass and drum blues-based grooves of the day fortified with hefty keyboard excursions that sounded a bit more like a late 60s act than something that would've emerged in the year 1971 when the world of progressive rock was going gangbuster with inventive freewheeling experimentalism.

While the music doesn't stand out as anything spectacular for the day, Bob Jackson's vocals certainly sounded unique with a passionate display of wide ranges of singing styles and enunciating his lyrics in a certain way. While the musicians on board are all competent with moments of virtuosic display inserting themselves into the mix, the composiitons themselves were fairly average and not something that really gets my juices flowing in the same way that Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster or Uriah Heep were able to master so elegantly. INDIAN SUMMER sounds more like a Deep Purple lite and delivered a delicate touch to the whole organ dominated heavy rock thing. The compositions are decent but personally i'm not sure why this album is as revered as it is when so many far more dynamic bands existed at the same time.

It didn't take long for the band to start falling apart. After the release of this album in March of 1971, bassist Malcolm Harper left the band to take over his father's engineering firm and although ex-The Sorrows bassist Wez Price continued with the band on the touring circuit the band basically went broke and realized their day would never come and like many others of the same era basically left their mark with a single album and disappeared from the scene. Overall INDIAN SUMMER delivered a nice listenable album but just lacks that extra bite that a heavier rock band needs to animate the music. I know this has its fans and it's become one of those sought after obscurities from the early 70s but for my tastes this band just didn't have enough pizazz to keep the album mesmerizing from beginning to end but there are certainly exhilarating moments such as at the end of the track "Black Sunshine." If you like the delicate touch with only occasional outbursts of instrumental heft then this one is for you!