AGNES STRANGE — Strange Flavour (review)

AGNES STRANGE — Strange Flavour album cover

Album · 1975 · Hard Rock

3.5/5 · 2011-08-11
Certif1ed

Strange by name, strange by nature...

Strange Flavour is a bit of an acquired taste, mostly due to the unconvincing, rather dry production - although I have to say I've heard far worse NWoBHM demos, and I rather like it.

"Give Yourself a Chance" is based around a hard, driving Status Quo boogie feel, the underlying currency of this album.

"Clever Fool" is more of the same, with very little effort put into the vocals - so if those are important to you, you're just going to switch off. The lyrics contain a nice level of humour - but the attitude is there in truckloads - it's carpet-sweeping time, and your hair is the broom. All together now - dah-nah-nah-dah-nah-nah-dah-nah-nah-Daaaah!!!!

The endings are done with such style and rock and roll panache, you kinda feel like these guys invented the whole thing - this is pure, from the gut, sweat and sawdust stuff.

Technically speaking, it's hard, blues-based rock rather than metal - but the time of release, and something about the smokiness and detectable heat of the valves, overdriven to within an inch or their circuit breakers has that metal vibe. Consider "Smokin' Valves" by Holocaust, or a slowed-down Vardis, and that's where this is all coming from. It's a heavier place than Quo, that's for sure.

And those breakdowns! Standard stuff, for sure, but so many, and so convinvincly done - here we go - Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Daaaaaaaah!

Neckbreaking stuff after just 3 songs - and basically, this is an album of this single style, all tight as a gnat's chuff, immaculate boogie rock with rather plain vocals - no worse than, say, Dave Brock.

The title track is the centrepiece though, in more ways than one, finally breaking the boogie style in favour of a strong Budgie vibe - and the songwriting here is easily as strong as Budgies, standing up squarely to the likes of "Breadfan", "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" and the other songs from Budgie's heavier moments.

Fortunately, it's also an instrumental, so you won't have to spend the whole song expecting Burke Shelley and getting Dave Brock. The let-down for some may be the lack of virtuosic lead guitar playing - but that's not what Agnes Strange were about, and what's been recorded works just fine.

"Alberta" is the weak point, a rather pointless, countrified ballad, but it's followed up by the beautiful "Loved One" - a true heavy metal ballad in two parts - the song, then the heavy bit, with a really tasty metal riff, partially based on "Hocus Pocus", which drops back to the favoured boogie rock, with plenty of tasteful if rather unimaginative pentatonic licks. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, though.

A Wah-drenched Groundhogs-fest follows, in "Failure", some space-rock and heavy Kraut in the smokin' "Children of the Absurd", then the inappropriately named "Odd Man Out", a slice of heavy boogie a la UFO, with maybe an edge of "Roadhouse Blues".

"Highway Blues" - a piledriving heavy 12-bar with an instrumental to die for - again, no virtuosics, but a veritable library of licks and tricks that provide a huge amount of entertainment, making me wish I'd thought of putting this song together - no, it's not hard, but the point is that these guys did it and I didn't.

That's great for me, as I can simply put the record on and enjoy loud, and with beer - it's also a fair summary of the entire album.

"Granny Don't Like Rock and Roll" contains the most metal riff on the album - and possibly the most metal riff of 1975, predating Iron Maiden with that famous gallop rhythm. Neck-snapping stuff - now where's 11 on this amplifier when you need it?

"Interference" rounds things off by introducing the band in a very amusing way - if you have beer, be careful not to drink it while listening to this, as most of the beer will end up being sprayed around the room.

Hugely enjoyable, nothing "classic", not massively original, smacking highly of a better-played Deviants album - but somehow, as the old TV advertisement for a famous Sherry brand used to say; "One instinctively knows when something is right" - and this entire album is oh, so right, and hits so many sweet spots.

I guess it's not essential for everyone, but man, I'm glad I have a copy, and if you like Hard Driving Boogie rock and beer, then this is simply perfect.