Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality (1971)

Year: 6 August 1971 (CD Dec 1986)
Label: Castle Communications PLC (France), NELCD 6004
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 40:01
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 240 Mb

Charts: UK #5, AUS #8, CAN #6, FIN #3, GER #5, NL #10, NOR #12, SWE #8, US #8. UK: Gold; CAN: Platinum; US: 2x Platinum.
During the album's recording sessions, Osbourne brought Iommi a large joint which caused the guitarist to cough uncontrollably. Iommi was recording acoustic guitar parts at the time, and his coughing fit was captured on tape. A fragment of Iommi's coughing was later added by producer Bain as the intro to "Sweet Leaf," a song which was admittedly an ode to marijuana use. Iommi recalls "We all played 'Sweet Leaf' while stoned." In an interview with Guitar World in 2001 Butler recalled: "I do remember writing "Sweet Leaf" in the studio. I'd just come back from Dublin, and they'd had these cigarettes called Sweet Afton, which you could only get in Ireland. We were going: "What could we write about?" I took out this cigarette packet, and as you opened it, it's got on the lid: "it's the sweetest leaf that gives you the taste" I was like: "Ah, Sweet Leaf!" Writing in Mojo in 2013, Phil Alexander observed: "To most it is the quintessential stoner anthem, a point borne out by Sabbath's own Olympian consumption of hashish during their early days." In the Black Sabbath concert film The Last Supper, Ward ruminates: "Did it enhance the music? Well, you know, we wrote 'Sweet Leaf': 'When I first met you / didn't realize', that's about meeting marijuana, having a relationship with marijuana ... That was part of our lifestyle at that time."
Butler, the band's primary lyricist, had a Catholic upbringing, and the song "After Forever" focuses entirely on Christian themes. At the time, Black Sabbath were suspected by some observers of being Satanists due to their dark sound, image, and lyrics. "After Forever" was released as a single along with "Fairies Wear Boots" in 1971.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Reality)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Sweet Leaf (05:05)
02. After Forever (05:27)
03. Embryo (05:00)
04. Children Of The Grave (00:45)
05. Orchid (01:30)
06. Lord Of This World (05:26)
07. Solitude (05:02)
08. Into The Void (06:13)
09. Killing Yourself To Live (Live) (05:30)

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Budgie - In For The Kill [4 bonus tracks] (1974)

Year: 17 May 1974 (CD 2004)
Label: Noteworthy Productions (UK), NP5
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Cardiff, Wales
Time: 57:28
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 389 Mb

Arriving seven years and three studio albums into Budgie's career, May 1974's ‘In for the Kill' summed up the group's current state of mind. The album, though no match for the career-best offering that preceded it, remains one of the Welsh trio's heaviest offerings.
Of course, your average fan today might only recognize Budgie via Metallica's covers of ‘Breadfan’ and the amusingly titled ‘Crash Course in Brain Surgery.' But Budgie helped create the heavy rock genre with albums like 'In for the Kill,' even if the project ultimately came to be seen as transitional.
Budgie's initial trio of recordings had been progressively adventurous, offering uniquely good-humored proto-metal. But then vocalist-bassist Burke Shelley and guitarist Tony Bourge parted ways with founding drummer Ray Phillips, welcoming the lead-footed (and aptly named) Pete Boot into the fold. That, combined with a series of brutish metallic riffs, gave 'In for the Kill' its titular menace -- as heard on the album's driving title track, which would soon become the set opener for a fledgling Van Halen.
Next came their definitive reworking of ‘Crash Course,' originally a first-album favorite, followed by the gentle acoustic respite of ‘Wondering What Everyone Knows’ and the ten-minute ‘Zoom Club’ jam. These were textbook samples of Budgie’s versatility, and carried Side One of ‘In for the Kill’ through to a brawny finish.
On Side Two, Budgie roared out of the gates with ‘Hammer and Tongs’ (a relatively straightforward blues whipped into a power-chord colossus a la Led Zeppelin), segued into a snappy boogie stomper in ‘Running from My Soul,’ and then wrapped everything up with another epic, eclectic heavy progger in ‘Living on My Own,’ which was highlighted by a bolero section nestled midway through.
While impressive by any external measure, 'In for the Kill' was no match for the previous year’s ‘Never Turn Your Back on a Friend’ and remained unjustly ignored, not charting in the U.S. and barely making the Top 30 in the U.K. That perhaps led to further lineup changes by Shelley and Bourge, and yet another musical shift for the group. Steve Williams took over for Boot, and the wonderfully idiosyncratic Budgie emerged with a serious funk rock fetish on 1975’s excellent ‘Bandolier’ album.
(ultimateclassicrock.com/budgie-in-for-the-kill/)

01. In For The Kill (06:27)
02. Crash Course In Brain Surgery (02:39)
03. Wondering What Everyone Knows (02:55)
04. Zoom Club (09:57)
05. Hammer And Tongs (06:57)
06. Running From My Soul (03:39)
07. Living On Your Own (09:01)
08. Zoom Club (Single edit) (Bonus track) (03:26)
09. In For The Kill (2003 version) (Bonus track) (03:34)
10. Crash Course In Brain Surgery (2003 version) (Bonus track) (02:43)
11. Zoom Club (2003 version) (Bonus track) (06:04)

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Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend [3 bonus tracks] (1973)

Year: June 1973 (CD 2004)
Label: Noteworthy Productions (UK), NP4
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Cardiff, Wales
Time: 59:02
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 413 Mb

This particular album, released in 1973, seems to be Budgie's most recognized album. It's got Breadfan on it, after all!
Which leads me into talking about the first track, Breadfan.

1) Breadfan
It starts out snarling, upbeat, and energetic in the intro/verse/chorus. The singing struck me as very strange, but its something you get used to. The song is quite catchy. In the middle it slows down into the acoustic, melancholy sounding bridge (which is COMPLETELY different from the Metallica version). Then the rest of the song goes back into the relentless hard rock riffing and singing. IMO this is the best sounding track off the album. 5/5
2) Baby Please Don't Go
Overall a bluesy, shuffling song. Has some good guitar licks and bass riffs. The singing is a bit weird and cheesy, but in a way fits. The riffs change from verse to chorus to solo, etc. Good song; nothing amzingly special about it though. 4/5
3) You Know I'll Always Love You
A soft, short ballad-like track. Awesome melodies and singing. The lyrics are deep and reflective. Would be a 5, but it's a bit strange and cheesy in moments, so i give it a 4.5/5.
4) You're The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk
Starts off with a cool drum solo for the first 1:47, and then goes into catchy hard-rocking. There are some tempo changes, and it seems to get more and more visious as it goes on. Has some good guitar soloing. Drags on a bit though. 4/5
5) In The Grip Of A Tyrefitters Hand
Has a cool funk-rockish thing going on and serious singing going on (it sort of sounds like this had influenced later metal bands to come). The solos and transitions are great except for the riff after the verse which is kind of awkward sounding. Over all, a cool song. 4/5
6) Riding My Nightmare
Is in the same style of You Know I'll Always Love You. Once again good melodies and singing. Not a whole lot of variety but its a nice shot ballad. 4.5/5
7) Parents
This and Breadfan are the most well known tracks off this album. Its a 10 minute serious reflection on the person's chilhood years and his parents (sounds kind of cynical and criticizing). Has good sad sounding riffs and verses and a cool wailing solo. Sometimes drags on. 4/5

01. Breadfan (06:05)
02. Baby Please Don't Go (05:25)
03. You Know I'll Always Love You (02:08)
04. You're The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk (08:46)
05. In The Grip Of A Tyrefitter's Hand (06:24)
06. Riding My Nightmare (02:40)
07. Parents (10:21)
08. Breadfan (2003 version) (Bonus track) (05:27)
09. Parents (2004 Acoustic version) (Bonus track) (05:37)
10. Breadfan (Live 1973) (Bonus track) (06:05)

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UFO - Force It [6 bonus tracks] (1975)

Year: July 1975 (CD 2007)
Label: Chrysalis Records (UK), CHRX 1074
Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Country:
Time: 65:24
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 472 Mb

It was their first album to chart in the United States.
The album was produced by Ten Years After bass player Leo Lyons. Another Ten Years After member, Chick Churchill, played Fender Rhodes electric piano keyboard, the first use of that instrument on a UFO record.
The somewhat controversial original album cover was designed by Hipgnosis, as were almost all other UFO album covers of the 1970s. The nudity on the cover verged on breaching decency standards and the sexes of the couple in the bathtub were not known for several years. The models were later revealed to be Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both later of the influential industrial band Throbbing Gristle. The artwork was softened for the initial US release, making the couple in the bathtub transparent. The cover is a pun – there are multiple taps (British English) or "faucets" (US English) in the picture, which is a play on the album's title.
Eduardo Rivadavia, reviewer for AllMusic, wrote: "One of the band's best albums, Force It will not disappoint lovers of '70s English hard rock."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_It)

01. Let It Roll (03:57)
02. Shoot Shoot (03:39)
03. High Flyer (04:08)
04. Love Lost Love (03:21)
05. Out In The Street (05:18)
06. Mother Mary (03:49)
07. Too Much Of Nothing (04:02)
08. Dance Your Life Away (03:35)
09. This Kid's (incl. Between The Walls) (06:17)
10. A Million Miles (Previously unreleased) (Bonus track) (04:49)
11. Mother Mary (Live 11/12/75) (Bonus track) (04:04)
12. Out In The Streets (Live 11/12/75) (Bonus track) (05:12)
13. Shoot Shoot (Live 11/12/75) (Bonus track) (03:48)
14. Let It Roll (Live 25/4/76) (Bonus track) (04:59)
15. This Kid's (Live 25/4/76) (Bonus track) (04:19)

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UFO - Phenomenon [6 bonus tracks] (1974)

Year: May 1974 (CD 2007)
Label: Chrysalis Records (UK), CHRX 1059
Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Country: London, England
Time: 63:47
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 450 Mb

It was the band's first album after guitarist Michael Schenker joined them, replacing Mick Bolton.
Their third studio album, Phenomenon was UFO's debut with major label Chrysalis Records and their first to be released in the United States. With the arrival of former Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker, Phenomenon saw UFO leave their blues-based space rock sound behind and transition to a more straightforward hard rock sound.
"With the Scorpions, I had recorded [the title track of] Lonesome Crow, but 'Rock Bottom' was the continuation of that. I needed to have a song in which I could improvise and go on an adventure. The version that we recorded for Phenomenon had begun in rehearsals as a riff, and we kept adding more riffs to it. And then Phil [Mogg, singer] leapt up and said, 'This is how we'll make it into a song'… I still think of 'Rock Bottom' as a work in progress. When I play it live now, I use the most memorable parts of the solo, and keep a space to represent my latest frame of mind." – Michael Schenker.
The album was produced by Leo Lyons, bassist of English rock group Ten Years After. All tracks were recorded at Morgan Studios in London. The original cover design and photos were by Hipgnosis.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenon_(UFO_album))

01. Oh My (02:25)
02. Crystal Light (03:47)
03. Doctor Doctor (04:12)
04. Space Child (04:01)
05. Rock Bottom (06:29)
06. Too Young To No (03:08)
07. Time On My Hands (04:12)
08. Built For Comfort (03:08)
09. Lipstick Traces (02:21)
10. Queen Of The Deep (05:49)
11. Sixteen (Demo) (Bonus track) (03:48)
12. Oh My (Demo) (Bonus track) (04:12)
13. Give Her The Gun (German single A-side) (Bonus track) (03:58)
14. Sweet Little Thing (German single B-side) (Bonus track) (03:51)
15. Sixteen (Previously unreleased) (Bonus track) (03:55)
16. Doctor Doctor (Live 06/06/74) (Bonus track) (04:24)

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Nazareth - Loud 'N' Proud (1973)

Year: November 1973 (CD 1991)
Label: Vertigo Records (Germany), 838 707-2
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Time: 37:13
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 220 Mb

Charts: CAN #17, US #150, AUT #1, GER #8, NOR #9, UK #10. SWE: Gold; CAN: Platinum.
Review Summary: Catchy, energetic classic hard rock which, while occasionally flawed, is a lot of fun, with easily one of the most identifiable rock tracks.
Nazareth are possibly best described as a Scottish mix of Judas Priest and AC/DC, mixing a lot of bluesy riffs and solos with occasionally metallic moments. While the band experienced some success after this album with the strong Hair Of The Dog, Loud 'n' Proud possesses some of their most consistently strong material and one of their most successful songs, ultimately making it a strong, catchy listen.
The album gets underway pretty quickly with the energetic and catchy Go Down Fighting, which demonstrates the band's strong guitarwork (including some fun slide guitar in the background at times) and vocalist Dan McCaffrey's excellent higher register shouts, akin to Brian Johnson but with a range similar to Rob Halford's; while simplistic in terms of instrumental technicality the album is nevertheless strong, with simple bass and drum work giving a solid backing to the lead instruments. The following Not Faking It offers more of the same, while demonstrating some of the more Priest-like tendencies of the band at times. While Turn On Your Receiver and Teenage Nervous Breakdown also demonstrate the same bluesy, catchy styling - which is often a bit overplayed and repetitive, Free Wheeler feels a bit more open, and the excellent This Flight Tonight (a Joni Mitchell cover) shakes up the structure of the album a bit, demonstrating the heights of McCaffrey's vocal performance. Child In The Son slows down the pace further, and the raw sounding Ballad Of Hollis Brown provides an abrasive ending, but these changes feel as though they came too late, as the lack of variation prior makes the early half of the album drag compared to the ending.
Despite the repetitive nature of the first half of this album, all the tracks are still pretty strong. Perhaps the majority doesn't compare to the amazing This Flight Tonight, one of the catchiest rock tracks ever, but the generally strong instrumental performance and consistently entertaining feel to the tracks keeps it entertaining, if mostly unadventurous, throughout. Perhaps if the band had more moments akin to that track, it would be a truly outstanding album, but it's still a fun hard rock album worth a listen.
(sputnikmusic.com/review/56071/Nazareth-Loud-n-Proud/)

01. Go Down Fighting (03:07)
02. Not Faking It (04:01)
03. Turn On Your Receiver (03:20)
04. Teenage Nervous Breakdown (03:44)
05. Free Wheeler (05:32)
06. This Flight Tonight (03:25)
07. Child In The Sun (04:52)
08. The Ballad Of Hollis Brown (09:10)

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Nazareth - Razamanaz (1973)

Year: May 1973 (CD 1989)
Label: Castle Records (France), CLACD 173
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Time: 36:23
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 213 Mb

Charts: CAN #39, US #157, GER #48, UK #11. CAN: Platinum.
After five years of serious dues-paying on the competitive U.K. music scene, Scottish rockers Nazareth were still looking for their big break when they unleashed their third album, ‘Razamanaz,’ in May of 1973. They finally found it.
Nazareth’s story begins in the city of Dumferline, where the quartet - singer Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton, bassist Pete Agnew and drummer Darrell Sweet - first came together before taking their still-developing band south to London.
There, the hard-working group scored a recording contract in less than a year. But neither their 1971 self-titled debut album nor the following year’s ‘Exercises’ turned too many heads, since they were both short on focus as the young band flirted with everything from blues and folk to country and hard rock on the records.
But fate intervened when Nazareth were tapped to open some shows on a Deep Purple tour and they befriended bassist Roger Glover, who agreed to produce the group's pivotal third album.
With Glover’s keen eye for chart-topping heavy rock, Nazareth rarely deviated from the mission at hand, straying only for the country blues of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Vigilante Man’ and the relatively smooth ‘Broken Down Angel.’  They delivered a slew of hard-hitting, and frequently slide guitar-lubricated, songs like ‘Night Woman,’ ‘Bad Bad Boy,’ ‘Woke Up This Morning’ and the blistering title track.
All this fine-tuned firepower helped ‘Razamanaz’ carry Nazareth into the U.K. charts for the first time. And the best was still to come: After another pair of hit-and-miss albums, Nazareth made their 1975 masterpiece ‘Hair of the Dog.’
(ultimateclassicrock.com/nazareth-razamanaz/)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Razamanaz (03:51)
02. Alcatraz (04:23)
03. Vigilante Man (05:21)
04. Woke Up This Morning (03:53)
05. Night Woman (03:30)
06. Bad, Bad, Boy (03:57)
07. Sold My Soul (04:47)
08. Too Bad Too Sad (02:55)
09. Broken Down Angel (03:41)

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Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards (1972)

Year: May 1972 (CD 1987)
Label: Bronze Records (Germany), 260 137
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 39:56
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 248 Mb

Charts: UK #20, AUS #14, CAN #22, GER #5, SWI #89, NOR #5, SWE #8, US #23, FIN #1, JPN #28. US: Gold.
Uriah Heep had released several albums by the time Demons And Wizards was released, including the critically acclaimed Look At Yourself, which was released the previous year, and is also one of my all-time favourite albums. However, it was this fourth release, Demons And Wizards, that really established the band Uriah Heep as a household name in British hard rock history.
At the very beginning of the early 70's, hard rock was really starting to take its shape, especially in the UK, with legendary rock acts contributing to the scene such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Uriah Heep were another band that emerged through the hard rock scene during this time, and although they were lesser known than the big three I mentioned, they were still just as important, and shouldn't get overlooked.
This album saw the introduction of bass player Gary Thain, who brought a fresh new approach with his melodic bass lines, and a new drummer in Lee Kerslake. Thain and Kerslake together formed the new rhythm section that became part of the classic Uriah Heep line-up.
Demons And Wizards is most notably famous for containing the two singles "Easy Livin", and "The Wizard", "Easy Livin" being a very upbeat and catchy single, and possibly the most well known single by Uriah Heep. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the song, I did find it to be one of the weakest songs on the album, giving me the same feeling I had about the hit song "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. "The Wizard", on the other hand, is a much slower paced single, and is a beautifully written semi-acoustic ballad; both of these singles showed a great diversity in the songwriting skills.
Other highlights are the songs "Rainbow Demon", which is my personal favourite song on the album, "Circle Of Hands", which is another excellent ballad-style track with a strong keyboard performance from Ken Hensley, particularly with the use of the organ at the intro, and "Traveler In Time", one of the heavier and catchier songs on the album, with a memorable riff. I also cannot go without mentioning the brilliant album closer, which is a combination of two songs, starting with the soft ballad "Paradise" that then merges into the lively upbeat "The Spell"; this is where you can clearly hear the progressive influences in their style. I found "All My Life" and "Poet's Justice" slightly weaker songs, but that certainly does not mean they are skippable by any means; they are still good quality songs.
Demons And Wizards is a great classic album that should certainly not be ignored if you have a taste for classic hard rock, or are a fan of early progressive rock.
(metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=17141)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Wizard (03:03)
02. Traveller In Time (03:26)
03. Easy Livin' (02:38)
04. Poet's Justice (04:17)
05. Circle Of Hands (06:30)
06. Rainbow Demon (04:28)
07. All My Life (02:47)
08. Paradise - A (05:07)
09. The Spell -B (07:35)

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Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself (1971)

Year: September 1971 (CD 1987)
Label: Bronze Records (Germany), 260 138-217
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 41:20
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 245 Mb

Charts: UK #39, AUS #16, GER #11, NOR #14, US #93, FIN #1, JPN #5. JPN: Gold.
There is more than just a hint of progressiveness about this album and yet it never takes this factor to its tedious extremes. Uriah Heep throws into this album a great mix of educated hard rock, great musicianship and shows their skill to the full extent of their abilities through their willingness to experiment.
The vocals on this album are simply spectacular. You won't find yourself reaching for the lyric book as every single word is crisp and clear as day. David Byron has absolutely astonishing range in his voice, whether it's the blood curdling scream near the end of "Shadows of Grief", the ballad harmonies echoed on "July Morning" or simply just the rock 'n' roll ferocity of "Love Machine". He does it all. His band mates help him out on a couple of tracks with some truly beautiful multi-layered harmonisation.
The opening title track shows straight away what lies in store. Incredibly heavy for its time the guitars and organ get continuously heavier and faster as the number progresses. There is an absolute monster of a guitar solo, which is very typical of the style of the great guitarists of the decade except played at breakneck pace. The song just keeps getting faster before breaking into some weird percussion insanity.
There is ballad like tendencies on the track "July Morning" but this mammoth composition eventually turns into a cacophony of music and reference must be made to the unearthly moog synthesiser solos towards the end well complimented by the organ/guitar structures beneath it.
"Shadows of Grief" is a very dark piece of music. At almost nine minutes in length it takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions at the despair of lost relationships and female treachery. Ken Hensley's hauntingly brilliant organ work is shadowed by a guitar riff disturbingly doom laden. The interplay between these two instruments as they duel for supremacy is quite enchanting and epitomises the whole album. The song drifts between morbid organ solos to up-beat anger and everywhere in-between.
They show their influences on "What Should be Done" which is a masterpiece of blues/jazz/funk crossover executed with such precision like only a progressive British band of the era could have done.
Their first album lacked maturity and was fairly mediocre and their second was an experimentation of epic proportions but "Look at Yourself" was a coming of age release for Uriah Heep. They developed their sound to such a degree that they stood heads and tails above their peers. I've never understood why this band weren't recognised or lauded as much as some of these very same peers in the early 70's hard rock scene. Their influence has always been underrated and they have never been very popular in the mainstream music press but the music definitely speaks for itself.
(metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=5404)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Look At Yourself (05:11)
02. I wanna Be Free (04:00)
03. July Morning (10:34)
04. Tears In My Eyes (05:01)
05. Shadows Of Grief (08:41)
06. What Should Be Done (04:14)
07. Love Machine (03:38)

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Bad Company - Straight Shooter [Japanese Ed.] (1975)

Year: March 28, 1975 (CD March 7, 2007)
Label: Warner Music Inc. (Japan), WPCR-12543
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 38:46
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 272 Mb

Charts: UK #3, AUS #8, CAN #3, FRA #3, GER #47, NDL #19, NOR #6, NZ #13, US #3. CAN & UK: Gold; US: 3x Platinum.
"Where Bad Company was stark, minimalist hard rock, Straight Shooter bears lots of different, vibrant colours: acoustic guitars are used for light and shade, guitars are channelled through chorus pedals, pianos and organs alternate with the occasional wash of strings, and the entire thing feels bigger and bolder than before." (AllMusic)
"Forsaking the constant thunder-thudding drone motif of ’74 in favour of a more textured approach, the group uses subdued acoustic guitar and tight vocal harmonies during most of the verses, saving the harsh electrical shocks for the head-slamming choruses. It’s a relatively simple 'calm before the storm' setup, but Bad Company milks it for all its effectiveness." (Rolling Stone)
"This rocks even more consistently than Bad Co., but to argue that it epitomizes hard rock as a style is not only to overlook its deliberate speed but to believe in one's (usually male) heart that Paul Rodgers is the ideal rock singer. You hear that a lot; what it seems to mean is that he doesn't shriek when he gets to the loud parts. Rodgers's power is no more interesting than Tom Jones's, and Jones is twice as subtle. If hard rock doesn't have more to offer, it's not worth arguing about." (Robert Christgau)

01. Good Lovin' Gone Bad (03:37)
02. Feel Like Makin' Love (05:16)
03. Weep No More (04:02)
04. Shooting Star (06:19)
05. Deal With The Preacher (05:04)
06. Wild Fire Women (04:35)
07. Anna (03:45)
08. Call On Me (06:05)

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Bad Company - Bad Company (1974)

Year: May 24, 1974 (CD 2000)
Label: Swan Song (Germany), 7567-92441-2
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 34:51
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 231 Mb

Charts: UK #3, AUS #6, CAN #1, GER #45, NOR #17, NZ #27, US #1. UK: Gold; US: 5x Platinum.
Any man who lacks the testicles to award a perfect ten to the first Bad Company album might as well start wearing a little nametag that says "pansy." This is essential redneck rock; take it from me - I grew up in Georgia. Yeeeeee-hooooo! These songs - simple, mindless, macho statements of sexual longing and rebellion for the hell of it - will continue to flood classic rock stations until the end of the 27th century because they were made for classic rock radio. No frills. No cleverness. Just distorted guitar, bass, drums, and a white guy with a fantastic, underbearing voice kickin' it home without putting too much thought into it.
The hits? "Can't Get Enough," "Rock Steady," "Ready For Love," "Bad Company," and "Movin' On," dark and light, dumb and dumber, and they all, every one, make you wanna whip your penis out and shake it around like a man would. Plus, they show their tender sensitive side with the two should-have-been-hits "Seagull" and "Don't Let Me Down." And yeah, "The Way I Choose" kinda sucks, but still - a TEN, goddammit, a TEN. An essential '70s pre-punk document.
(markprindle.com/badcoa.htm#bad)

01. Can't Get Enough (04:16)
02. Rock Steady (03:47)
03. Ready For Love (05:02)
04. Don't Let Me Down (04:21)
05. Bad Company (04:50)
06. The Way I Choose (05:05)
07. Movin' On (03:24)
08. Seagull (04:02)

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Ten Years After - Stonedhenge [4 bonus tracks] (1969)

Year: 7 February 1969 (CD 2002)
Label: Deram Records (Germany), 8828982
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Nottingham, England
Time: 62:28
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 327 Mb

Alvin Lee’s diciples of steel are well known for their heavy, row sound live as evidenced in “Goin’ Home” performed at Woodstock ’69. Although when listening to this album the careful explorer would notice half of the tunes are semi acoustic, even so avant-garde, they precede what’s on the cornerstone jazz-rock platter, M. Davis — ‘Bitches Brew’, released that same year. So rocker Lee’s still a non recognized trailblazer, leading the symbiosis of both genres at that time. “I Can’t Live Without Lydia” is a classic jazz piano piece dominated by the skilful fingers of Chick Churchill, echoing ragtime. “Woman Trouble” sees Lee in a Wes Montgomery mould thus long ahead of what John McLaughlin could express with Mahavishnu the next year. It’s emphasized by the duelling guitar vs J. Smith’s blend of electric organ chords.
“Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob” is a scat vocalizing piece preceding what Bobby McFerrin would symbolize almost a decade after (an unexpected reference to the band’s name surfaced). “Hear me Calling” & “A Sad Song” are standard old blues numbers, having nothing in common with what Hendrix & Clapton were doing in that same period. “Three Blind Mice” is a 0:58 purely percussion piece seeing what Airto Moreira would be best known for in the time to come. Almost a half of “No Title” is quite experimental, at times colored with moments of Lee’s rock guitar. “Faro” is also a guitar-bass nouveau tune. In the end only “Going to Try” & train imitating closer “Speed Kills” (co-written by Lee & Little Steven respected Mike Vernon — he’s the LP producer), can be viewed as typical rock tracks.
It should be noted it hit the UK Top 10 albums which makes it the 1st avant-garde work to do so. Imagine that nowadays! I’ll conclude with the wishful — rock critics give Alvin Lee & co a chance!
(headheritage.co.uk/unsung/reviews/ten-years-after-stonedhenge)

01. Going To Try (04:51)
02. I Can't Live Without Lydia (01:23)
03. Woman Trouble (04:37)
04. Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob (01:42)
05. Hear Me Calling (05:44)
06. A Sad Song (03:23)
07. Three Blind Mice (00:58)
08. No Title (08:12)
09. Faro (01:11)
10. Speed Kills (03:41)
11. Hear Me Calling (Single Version) (Bonus) (03:46)
12. Women Trouble (US Version) (Bonus) (04:51)
13. I'm Going Home (Single Version) (Bonus) (03:39)
14. Boogie On (Bonus) (14:26)

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Ten Years After - Ten Years After [6 bonus tracks] (1967)

Year: 27 October 1967 (CD 2002)
Label: Deram Record (UK), 8828972
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock, Hard Rock
Country: Nottingham, England
Time: 63:40
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 369 Mb

Ten Years After actually started out as more of a fast jazz band: Leo Lyons was certainly a jazz bass player, and Alvin's fast'n'furious playing really fitted the jazz pattern much more than standard R'n'B. The track that opens their first album, McLeod's 'I Want To Know', really says it all: magnificent, entertaining, swift, funny guitar lines, a jazz rhythm and Alvin's nasal vocals quickly set the scene for an absolutely self-assured, tight and very raw bunch of covers and 'originals'. And I do mean these quotes: Alvin's contributions to this album are just standard blues melodies set to a different set of, often misogynistic, lyrics. In fact, the only problem the record suffers from is an obvious lack of songwriting skills. Besides that, the production is somewhat lame: the engineers, including future Elton John starmaker Gus Dudgeon, were probably told not to bother very much with this 'experimental' band. So it ends up sounding like a lot of this stuff was recorded with just a hand-held tape recorder, and the production is just as muddy and dizzy as the album cover. All the better: this really gives the effect of a raw, young, happy, energetic and powerful band letting go - unlike the later, much more polished records.
Some of the numbers are just extended bluesfests, and not very exciting at that. 'Spoonful', for instance, was done far more convincingly by Cream, and this particular version suffers horrendously because of muddy, 'undermixed' vocals and because they really overdid the instrumental bit - after all, Alvin Lee is no Eric Clapton when it comes to constructing a slow, calculated blues solo on record. Moreover, the main riff to the song, its usual main attraction, is for some strange reason donated to Mr Churchill who plays it on an organ and thus misses all the heavy bombast that was such a great fun on Cream's version. And the famous cover of Willie Dixon's 'Help Me', the band's most essential stage favourite from the album, does pick up steam near the end, but in the middle it's just a lengthy marathon of rather average soloing. I mean, Alvin does the 'tension build-up' bit rather well, steadily going from modest, self-contained licks to an all-out guitar hell, but ten minutes of tension build-up are a bit too much even for good-natured Blues Tolerators like me.
(full version: starlingdb.org/music/tenyears.htm#After)

01. I Want To Know (02:11)
02. I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes (05:24)
03. Adventures of A Young Organ (02:34)
04. Spoonful (06:05)
05. Losing The Dogs (03:03)
06. Feel It For Me (02:40)
07. Love Until I Die (02:06)
08. Don't Want You Woman (02:37)
09. Help Me (09:51)
10. Portable People (bonus track) (02:17)
11. The Sounds (bonus track) (04:29)
12. Rock Your Mama (bonus track) (03:00)
13. Spider In My Web (bonus track) (07:13)
14. Hold Me Tight (bonus track) (02:18)
15. Woodchoppers Ball (bonus track) (07:44)

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Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

Year: 18 September 1970 (CD Dec 1986)
Label: Castle Communications PLC (France), NELCD 6003
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 60:40
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 378 Mb

Charts: UK #1, AUS #4, CAN #20, FIN #4, GER #2, NL #1, NOR #5, SWE #6, SWI #48, US #12. AUS & GER: Gold; CAN & UK: Platinum; US: 4x Platinum.
From a moonlit thicket, a soldier wielding a scimitar and a pointy shield approaches, his eyes bulging with terror beneath a bright white helmet. He wears pink leggings and an outlandish orange blazer, an outfit that becomes, in Marcus Keef’s clumsy long-exposure photograph, a garish streak of glowing neon across the midnight scene. These were meant to be “War Pigs,” autocratic henchmen Black Sabbath lampooned during their second album’s bellicose opener and its intended title. From a distance, they look like an errant splotch of paint across a sheet of construction paper; up close, they just look absurd.
Still, in all its grainy ignominy, Paranoid’s cover is one of the most transformative moments in the early history of Black Sabbath and, by extension, heavy metal. In 1970, Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut did something few were expecting—it sold very well, charting both at their home in the UK and in the United States. Their label, Vertigo, soon dispatched Black Sabbath back to the studio to record a follow-up, stretching their already-indulgent impulses into eight-minute songs about war and heroin and the glory of the guitar. When they needed one more tune, the band headed to the bar while guitarist Tony Iommi stayed behind and spent a few minutes writing a simple riff that chugged, paused, and kept prowling, like a predator always in search of its next meal. They recorded the song in a flash and called it “Paranoid,” the fulfillment of a legal obligation.
Vertigo didn’t hear filler; it heard a hit, a trouncing three-minute assault by a young band that still favored excessive jams. Six months after releasing Black Sabbath, they issued the song as Black Sabbath’s second single and demanded that the album’s title be changed from War Pigs to Paranoid. They wanted to remind potential customers of the song they’d seen four long-haired weirdos headbang to on “Top of the Pops” while avoiding the nasty business of saying something controversial in an era already fraught with civil unrest. But in the sprint to get the record into stores, Vertigo never bothered to commission an image that fit the new name. The soldier simply stands there, an embarrassment in neon. After nearly 50 years, bassist and songwriter Geezer Butler (and most everyone else) still hates it: “The cover was bad enough when the album was going to be War Pigs, but when it was Paranoid it didn’t even make sense.”
The label was right about “Paranoid,” at least. Propelled by its lead single, Paranoid was the only Black Sabbath album to top the British charts for the next four decades. In the U.S., where it nearly broke into the Top 10 mere months after the band’s small stateside debut, it has gone platinum four times. Record labels realized that heaviness and spookiness could sell and that Led Zeppelin, Sabbath’s favorite band, were just the beginning. In ceding to Vertigo’s commercial instincts about “Paranoid,” both as a single and album title, Black Sabbath helped launch heavy metal not just as a genre but also as a veritable industry.
(full version: classicrockreview.wordpress.com/?s=Black+Sabbath+%281970%29)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. War Pigs (07:56)
02. Paranoid (02:49)
03. Planet Caravan (04:25)
04. Iron Man (05:55)
05. Electric Funeral (04:49)
06. Hand Of Doom (07:07)
07. Rat Salad (02:30)
08. Fairies Wear Boots (06:14)
09. Wicked World (Live. bonus track) (18:51)

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Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1970)

Year: 13 February 1970 (CD Dec 1986)
Label: Castle Communications PLC (France), NELCD 6002
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 41:25
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 276 Mb

Charts: UK #8, AUS #8, CAN #29, FIN #13, GER #8, NL #6, US #23. UK & CAN: Gold; US: Platinum.
Listening to Black Sabbath’s self-titled 1970 album is a lesson in heavy metal history. Though bands such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple influenced the formation of the genre, Black Sabbath is often considered the first true heavy metal band, perhaps because they were the first to devote their focus to the darker themes that became an often controversial element of metal. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin also has been quoted as saying he thought Black Sabbath was the first true heavy metal band. Living in an impoverished English town where career choices for most were limited to factory worker or criminal, the boys of Black Sabbath could not relate to the idealistic hippie music that was popular when the band formed in 1968, considering themselves a blues band. Guitarist Toni Iomi observed the lines that formed at the local movie theater whenever it showed horror films and remarked that if people were so willing to pay to be scared, perhaps they should try playing evil-sounding music. With that in mind, they took their name from a Boris Karloff film.
The title track exemplified Sabbath’s goal of capturing horror in music. It began with atmospheric sounds of heavy rain, thunder, and a single, tolling bell. Then Iomi played a slow, ominous riff based on the “devil’s tritone,” an interval notoriously avoided in medieval music because its dissonance evoked a sense of evil—perfect for Sabbath’s purposes. Though speedy, seemingly effortless shredding has become nearly synonymous with heavy metal, the slogging pace of this formative song was truly heavy, creating a feeling of immense weight and pressure intensified by the dread-soaked vocals of Ozzy Osbourne in his prime. The story of being dragged to hell by a figure in black was not conveyed so much by the lyrics as by the despair in Osbourne’s voice when he moaned, “Oh no, no, please God help me.” The song was haunting in a way that most listeners in 1970 had no idea how to process. This dire sound eventually became the primary influence of the doom metal subgenre in the early 1980s.
“The Wizard” opened with evidence of Black Sabbath’s blues roots in the form of a forlorn harmonica, soon backed up by bassist Geezer Butler and the real star of the song, drummer Bill Ward. The simple, repetitive melody taken in turns by Osbourne’s vocals and harmonica required little focus from the listener, freeing them to be carried along by Ward’s varied, jazz-influenced rhythms.
(full version: classicrockreview.wordpress.com/?s=Black+Sabbath+%281970%29)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Black Sabbath (06:22)
02. The Wizard (04:24)
03. Behind The Wall Of Sleep (03:37)
04. N.I.B. (06:08)
05. Evil Woman (03:24)
06. Sleeping Village (10:44)
07. Warning (03:34)
08. Tomorrows Dream (Live. bonus track) (03:09)

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Budgie - Squawk [4 bonus tracks] (1972)

Year: 1 September 1972 (CD 2004)
Label: Noteworthy Productions (UK), NP3
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Cardiff, Wales
Time: 52:29
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 305 Mb

This band really stand out in the 70s crowd. They move like no other, they rock like no other, and they feel the music like no other. There is some really great soul put into their music by each and every one of the three members. The music screams at me, or better put, SQUAWKS at me. Though I haven't listened to all of their albums, I can't imagine them going bad, if they keep their style. Pain medicine is weak compared to the abilities of this band. They rock like the wind, and roll like the sea. They jam like the earth , and prog like the inner flame inside all of us.
Burke Shelley is one of the highlights of the album. It roars like the throat of a monstrous whale. It rams the music forward into stardom. And it fills in perfectly where it is needed in the music. Everything epic or moving in this album would be disintegrated if the bass was taken out. His voice is as eerie as the wind whistling upon the nooks and crannies of a mountain. His voice is as a flute. Strong and tremendous, but very pleasant to hear indeed. He keeps attacking the song with his voice as if every breathe he speaks he were actually eating the song up, grokking the music. His voice is soft cheese to my ears, and his bass is a fine donut.
Tony Bourge adds a drop of whiskey to the music with his drowning guitar. His passion show fruitfully, and he truly is a beast. Let alone the solos- in which would take any other rock band of the era at least a week to figure out. It takes you places in the mind's eye. It jams with the infernal light of ingenuity. The guitar and bass truly act as brothers throughout the entire album, so well that you would think it was one guitar on one really fat neck.
Ray Philips is a true drummer. He knows where to put the beats. And his drums are a true backbone to this music. THe drums are bloodbrothers with the bass completely. They work so well together.
GO listen to this album right now it rules queef.
(sputnikmusic.com/review/44385/Budgie-Squawk/)

01. Whiskey River (03:22)
02. Rocking Man (05:24)
03. Rolling Home Again (01:43)
04. Make Me Happy (02:37)
05. Hot As A Docker's Armpit (05:52)
06. Drug Store Woman (03:14)
07. Bottled (01:50)
08. Young Is A World (08:07)
09. Stranded (06:21)
10. Whiskey River (A-side single version) (Bonus track) (02:39)
11. Stranded (Alternate mix) (Bonus track) (06:18)
12. Whiskey River (2003 version) (Bonus track) (03:19)
13. Rolling Home Again (2004 version) (Bonus track) (01:38)

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