Paris by Paris (Capitol 1976)
Bob Welch trio cut a Zep-style gem
Paris Tracklist
1. Black Book
2. Religion
3. Starcage
4. Beautiful Youth
5. Nazarene
6. Narrow Gate (La Porte Etroite)
7. Solitaire
8. Breathless
9. Rock of Ages
10. Red Rain
All songs written by Bob Welch
Paris Lineup
Bob Welch: Vocals, guitar
Glenn Cornick: Bass guitar, keyboards
Thom Mooney: Drums
Produced and engineered by Jimmy Robinson
Bob Welch's tragic suicide in June, this year, probably prompted Rock Candy to reissue Paris's first self-titled album, which was originally released in January 1976. Poorly received at the time, it subsequently became a cult and was reissued four times before his death. Paris were a hard-rock power-trio formed after Welch left Fleetwood Mac, consisting of himself on guitar and vocals with ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and former Nazz drummer Thom Mooney. They released two albums, this one, produced by Jimmy Robinson, and Big Towne 2061, produced by Bob Hughes, with Hunt Sales replacing Mooney on drums.
Black Book is a blatant copy of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog by opening the album, the use of the adjective 'black', the riff and the Robert Plant impersonation. Having got Black Book (or is it Black Dog?) out of their system, Religion is a more subtle interpretation of early British blues rock, in that it starts by sounding like Led Zeppelin covering Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac's Man of the World, but it develops into a phased workout more reminiscent of spacerock bands like Gong or Hawkwind. Starcage continues the theme of combining Feetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin, with a Peter Green vocal added to a Trampled Under Foot synthesizer riff. An impression of spacerock pervades, giving the impression that this album is more than just a Zeppelin copy.
By Beautiful Cage, Welch has moved further away from Zepplin, closer to fellow Californians Montrose - who were like Page and co, but somehow different. The same is true of Nazarene, on which Welch sounds like a combination of Sammy Hagar and Peter Green. Yet, there is still an indefineable something which sets this song, and others, apart from their sources. In equal parts, this is due to the strength of the songs, Welch's relaxed delivery, his fluid guitar playing and the rhythm section. All credit should go to Glen Cornick and Thom Mooney, who work really well together. Narrow Gate has an excellent lyric, solid riff and dreamy, synthesizer-led, cosmic passage, which evolves into a snappy The Song Remains the Same riff. The West Coast sound that Welch introduced to Fleetwood Mac, and which they later exploited to commercial effect, is present in Solitaire with added phasing.
Breathless is a funky respite, showing the band's ability to add more than light and shade. Welch's interpretation of Whole Lotta Love finally comes in the form of Rock of Ages. Red Rain represents more of The Song Remains the Same with one of the most unusual vocal arrangements since Manfred Eann's Earth Band's version of Blinded by the Light on The Roaring Silence (released in August 1976, seven months later than Paris).
Despite strong material, Paris's second album sold less well than the first. Hunt Sales' brother Tony subsequently replaced Glenn Cornick on bass, before the lineup dissolved. Welch intended the following album to be Paris 3, but, instead, it was released as his first solo work, French Kiss (1977), and brought him his greatest commercial success. He regarded the Paris project as a misjudgement, probably because it was financially disastrous, but with the benefit of hindsight, it produced one of the great lost albums. It would be an irony if, with the support of the press, the Rock Candy reissue turned out to be an, albeit modest, commercial success.
Written October 2012