Bad Company - Burnin' Sky [Japanese Ed.] (1977)

Year: March 3, 1977 (CD Mar 7, 2007)
Label: Swan Song (Japan), WPCR-12545
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 45:08
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 296 Mb

Charts: UK #17, AUS #15, CAN #16, NDL #14, NOR #45, NZ #32, SWE #32, US #15. US: Gold.
Before you can even digest or vomit back up Run With The Pack (or "Run With The Night", as lameass North Carolina DJ "Cosmo" so eloquently called it that time I heard him play "Young Blood" - right before he declared it to be a "great song" off of a "great album." Lameass.), the "talentless boys of rock 'n' roll" are back to shove more poorly-written dreck down your listening ear.
I'll give 'em this though: even though all these melodies sound like they were written in about two minutes, most of them are amazingly catchy. The title track, "Morning Sun," "Too Bad," "Everything I Need," "Peace Of Mind" - all disgustingly simple, but not self-parodic like on the last album. It sounds, rather, like a postmodern lo-fi college band imitating Bad Company. It's not bombastic (except for a couple of really crappy numbers); it's just a bunch of poorly-arranged songs. I like 'em! It's actually a pretty good record, though definitely not worthy of classic rock radio play. If you see it in a dollar bin, get it. It's at least an interesting, semi-unpredictable record. A cover of "Valerie, Valerah?" A seven-minute groove jam? Wow. Bad Company stretches out and tries something new. Who knows how far this'll go? Embarrassing. And the cover of "Young Blood" is unlistenable.
(albumoftheyear.org/user/markprindlebot/album/119320-burnin-sky/)

01. Burnin' Sky (05:09)
02. Morning Sun (04:06)
03. Leaving You (03:23)
04. Like Water (04:19)
05. Knapsack (01:20)
06. Everything I Need (03:23)
07. Heartbeat (02:37)
08. Peace Of Mind (03:25)
09. Passing Time (02:30)
10. Too Bad (03:52)
11. Man Needs Woman (03:45)
12. Master Of Ceremony (07:13)

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Bad Company - Run With The Pack (1976)

Year: January 30, 1976 (CD 1994)
Label: Swan Song (Europe), 7567-92435-2
Style: Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 36:30
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 247 Mb

Charts: UK #4, AUS #9, CAN #13, FRA #19, NDL #11, NOR #11, NZ #32, SWE #23, US #5. UK: Gold; US: Platinum.
The cover of the Coasters single "Young Blood" peaked at No. 20. The album also spawned rock radio classics "Silver, Blue & Gold", "Live for the Music", and the title track. "Silver, Blue & Gold" was never released as a single, but is one of the band's most popular compositions.
Cash Box said of "Do Right by Your Woman" that it "is an acoustic number, with some twelve-string work" and that "the harmonies are excellent, at times reminiscent of CSNY, and a low-down harmonical fill."
Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated the title track as Bad Company's greatest song, saying that its energy "just simply defines what Bad Company was all about" and praising the "great intros" and "pulsating verses that built up to superman style choruses." Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated it as Bad Company's 6th best song, praising its "panache and subtlety."
The album was remastered and re-released in 1994. The vinyl album had a shiny, silver cover, but CD versions feature a simple, light grey cover. The original album cover also came as a gatefold, with a photo of the band inside, sitting around a couch near a television tuned in to a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_with_the_Pack)

01. Live For The Music (03:58)
02. Simple Man (03:38)
03. Honey Child (03:17)
04. Love Me Somebody (03:08)
05. Run With The Pack (05:23)
06. Silver, Blue and Gold (05:04)
07. Young Blood (02:41)
08. Do Right By Your Woman (02:53)
09. Sweet Lil' Sister (03:31)
10. Fade Away (02:52)

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Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green (1970)

Year: 17 April 1970 (CD 1990)
Label: Chrysalis Records (US), F2 21084
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Nottingham, England
Time: 39:15
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 209 Mb

Charts: UK #4, AUS #19, CAN #11, DEN #5, FIN #8, GER #8, ITA #17, NOR #8, US #14.
Only a year had passed since Ssssh and they’re already miles away. They’re not being particularly amazing with their new style, but this is still miles away. This is not the raw rip-roaring tone they had on that one. But neither is it a bunch of weak grooves as was Stonedhenge. Instead, this is the first record where they have discovered synthesizers – and synthesizers were to play a vital role for the band during the next few years. Indeed, along with the Who, Ten Years After might be defined as pioneers of the ‘synth-genre’. On most of these songs synths play a modest, but distinctive role (unlike the completely unabashed synthfest on Watt), and this gives the record an obvious prog feel. Plus, production is better than ever – modern techniques, no doubt? This is often regarded as their best album, and indeed it was their best-hitting album in the UK. But me no. Oh no me. These songs are all good, ass-kicking and quite mightee, but they just don’t hook me as much as the ones on Ssssh.
If I might suggest a comparison, this album is to TYA as Who’s Next is to the Who. It marks the arrival of a completely new group that’s only to happy to break up with its past. I mean, Alvin and his guitar are still there, and they still form the centerpiece of the band, but the sound has changed radically. Early Ten Years After were all groovy, hip and funny; late Ten Years After are all sad, melancholy and dark. I mean, you can still encounter a groovy ditty now and then, but mostly it’s just creepy, gloomy tunes, with a deep, rumbling, echoey production, an abundance of the minor key, bitter pissed-off lyrics and a thoroughly angry and smokin’ lead guitar. A lot of ‘cosmic’ overtones, too – in the studio at least, Ten Years After are moving even further away from the listener, distancing themselves and beginning to speak as if from a completely different planet. In all, Cricklewood Green is as deceiving a title as could be – it should bring something folkish to mind, you know, like Songs From The Wood or something like that. Instead, it’s a dark dreary ‘cosmic rock’ album. Bah.
(full version: classicrockreview.wordpress.com/category/ten-years-after-cricklewood-green/)

01. Sugar the Road (04:08)
02. Working on the Road (04:20)
03. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain (07:42)
04. Year 3.000 Blues (02:26)
05. Me and My Baby (04:10)
06. Love Like a Man (07:41)
07. Circles (04:01)
08. As the Sun Still Burns Away (04:43)

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Ten Years After - Ssssh (1969)

Year: September 1969 (CD 1988)
Label: Chrysalis Records (Europe), 259 010
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Nottingham, England
Time: 33:34
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 206 Mb

Charts: UK #4, CAN #17, FIN #14, GER #6, NOR #16, US #20. CAN: Gold.
And at last, this time around there was no doubt these guys were gonna be a major act. Good lads, they seem to have realized all of the mistakes they made on Stonedhenge, and this time you're in for a listen of your lifetime! No more stupid grooves or Leo Lyons solo spots. No more trippy quiet guitar sounds and no more muddy, ear-destructive production. What you are presented with is a gruff, rip-roaring, tearing-at-the-walls progressive blues album which boasts brilliant production - AT LAST!
I may be a little biased towards this album, but really, you must realise it was a grandiose effort for the boys. Ten Years After was a homemade album of four guys getting together to play a couple of covers; Undead was a live album made by the same boys; Stonedhenge was a first try, but a failure; and this, this is absolutely fantastic. Well, not absolutely. Ten Years After never made an album that was 'absolutely' fantastic. Forget about 'absolutely'. But this is definitely fantastic in the fantastic Ten Years After way.
Where was I? Ah yes, Ssssh. The only real trouble with that album is an ungly cover and the fact that you never can remember how many 's' you have to write between the capital one and the 'h'. Apart from that, there are some great blues numbers, some great ballads and some great heavy rockers the likes of which were not to be found previously. The very album opener ('Bad Scene') is not just heavy - it's practically hardcore punk: a breathtaking speed and a gruff guitar tone that predicts the Ramones but also kinda outdates them. But there are also tricky changes in signature, a special jazzy middle-eight, Alvin's trademark solos, strange electronically encoded vocals and... well, you get my drift. There's everything that Stonedhenge sorely lacked.
(full version: starlingdb.org/music/tenyears.htm#Ssssh)

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. Bad Scene (03:30)
02. Two Time Mama (02:03)
03. Stoned Woman (03:30)
04. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (07:01)
05. If You Should Love Me (05:23)
06. I Don't Know That You Don't Know My Name (02:02)
07. The Stomp (04:34)
08. I woke Up This Morning (05:27)

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Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (1972)

Year: September 1972 (CD Dec 1986)
Label: Castle Communications PLC (France), NELCD 6005
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 47:23
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 307 Mb

Charts: UK #8, AUS #1, CAN #5, FIN #2, GER #8, NOR #7, SWE #7, SWI #17, US #13. UK: Gold; CAN & US: Platinum.
"The band started to become very fatigued and very tired. We'd been on the road non-stop, year in and year out, constantly touring and recording. I think Master of Reality was kind of like the end of an era, the first three albums, and we decided to take our time with the next album."
--- Bill Ward
Indeed, producing a full three albums in merely two years while intensively touring for them must have undoubtedly put strain on Black Sabbath. After a short break, the question was whether they would be able to equal their two classics Paranoid and Master of Reality. Whilst in the recording process, however, a more important issue had emerged. The entire band had gotten so used to drugs, most notably cocaine, that they became increasingly distant to the music, as well as in their personal relationships. After a tiny break, there was more pressure on the quartet than ever. Nevertheless, their fourth album, the not-all-too-inventively-titled Volume 4 (a decision record label Vertigo made because original title Snowblind was not to their liking) became yet another success, allowing the band to continue their legacy.
"Yeah, the cocaine had set in. We went out to L.A. and got into a totally different lifestyle. Half the budget went on the coke and the other half went to seeing how long we could stay in the studio...We rented a house in Bel-Air and the debauchery up there was just unbelievable."
--- Geezer Butler
"Yes, Vol. 4 is a great album but listening to it now, I can see it as a turning point for me, where the alcohol and drugs stopped being fun."
--- Bill Ward
(sputnikmusic.com/review/35048/Black-Sabbath-Vol.-4/)

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. Wheels Of Confusion (08:00)
02. Tomorrow's Dream (03:07)
03. Changes (04:43)
04. Fx (01:40)
05. Supernaut (04:43)
06. Snowblind (05:28)
07. Cornucopia (03:51)
08. Laguna Sunrise (02:52)
09. St. Vitus Dance (02:27)
10. Under The Sun (05:51)
11. Children Of The Grave (Live) (04:35)

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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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