ZOOT — Zoot Locker (The Best of the Zoot - 1968 to 1971) (review)

ZOOT — Zoot Locker (The Best of the Zoot - 1968 to 1971) album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 1980 · Proto-Metal

2.5/5 · 2015-06-23
voila_la_scorie

Somehow I came across a video of Zoot performing live on Australian TV. They sounded pretty heavy and one guy had a shirt with a big inverted cross on it. The program was from July 1970, if I recall correctly, and I clicked on two other performance videos. They sounded like a solid heavy rock band. Always eager to check out proto-metal bands, I looked Zoot up on Wiki and was quite surprised to see The Little River Band and Rick Springfield mentioned. I knew The Little River Band from the first cassette I ever bought - a hits compilation called "Rock '82" - and Rick I knew because when I went out and bought Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance" my sister bought Rick Springfield's "Working Class Dog". So what were Rick and Beeb Birtles from The LRB doing in a heavy rock band from 1970?

According to what I read on Wiki and the band history included in the CD I managed to snag out of Australia, Zoot started out as a bubblegum pop outfit whose PR man got them wearing pink satin suits. When Rick Springfield joined, he dawned the pink and then soon encouraged everyone to drop the pink deal (it was already causing trouble as one member had been attacked). The music changed with Rick as the primary song-writer and it became heavier. They hit their peak with an excellent heavy rock version of "Eleanor Rigby", but soon after their first album was released, various pressures placed on the band and its individual members led to a break up.

This compilation was released in 1980 originally and reissued on CD in 1995. The bubblegum part sounds a lot like early Beatles like "She Loves You" or "I Wanna Hold You Hand" or like early Sweet, a là "Little Willy", "Wig Wam Bam", or "Papa Rumba". But more than these, I find the music sounds most like early Who pop tunes. In fact, I never considered how pop-oriented the Who were until I considered their music against that of Zoot. You might also want to add The Monkees in here as well.

However, once Rick Springfield joins the ranks, there is a noticeable change. Though "Mr. Songwriter" is a light ballad at first, it switches to a power ballad during the last 40 seconds of the song. "Strange Things" has one cool heavy riff at about 1:40, and "Hey Pinky" keeps the heavy guitar work cropping up, especially near the end. There is still that pop vocal harmony sound in most of these songs. But check out "The Freak" with its urgent pace and metal guitar chugging riffs. It slows down in the middle for us to consider the sad life of the circus freak and then returns to its heavy theme. "Evil Child" is a heavy, quick-paced Blues rocker with brass and backing choir. Fun song.

The best was saved for last with "Eleanor Rigby" closing the album. It's completely unrecognizable - slow, heavy, and bombastic - until the vocals come in. Then after the line, "I look at all the lonely people," it breaks into a speedy doom rocker. If you only check out one song by Zoot, this is the one to hear. And there's a video on YouTube!

Zoot barely touched anything near proto-metal in the first two years of their recording career (even though you'll hear some fuzz tone guitar here and there and the odd guitar solo) but things become interesting around 1970. If this whole album had been like "The Freak" and "Eleanor Rigby" then Zoot would easily have been masters of early metal.