Unknown Soldier

1971 had a seen the release of some great albums, but as a whole it hadn’t reached the heights of 1970 as far as ‘heavy music’ was concerned, 1972 would see this lull corrected. 1972 must rank as one of the great years in 1970s rock music without any shadow of a doubt. This was a year that saw some of the greatest albums ever released in Yes Close to the Edge, David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Wishbone Ash Argus, Allman Brothers Band Eat a Peach, Neil Young Harvest and Lou Reed’s Transformer. This quality was also mirrored by the bands at the top end of my list for 1972 and there were some stellar albums and guess what? Led Zeppelin didn’t even record a studio album in 1972, so there will be a new number one on here for 1972! Under the moniker of ‘heavy music’ hard rock continued to be the driving force yet again and the genre now slowly started to move further away from its overtly blues influences, they would still be there of course but not quite so obvious as before. 1972 would also especially in the UK, see the emergence of the ‘glam rock’ scene and it was obvious that glam could live with music at the heavier end of the spectrum and Alice Cooper had already proved this and Mott the Hoople would also prove it as well. Also anybody reading this, would have noticed how British bands more or less ruled the roost in terms of producing the best heavy bands band for band, a factor which would probably remain true for the rest of the decade. But throughout the decade, the Americans would always have a band that could live with the best and 1972 would see the arrival of the Blue Oyster Cult, which would give America their most stable hard rock band since Grand Funk Railroad. The year was so good, that I had to cheat in order to get some albums into the “Top 10” list and I did this by doubling up albums released by the same artist. What I mean by doubling up will become apparent when looking at the list. Enjoy as it’s a fantastic year and one of the very best of the decade.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Big Ears

I've got Pink Fairies' later Kings of Oblivion album and it's really great, mainly for City Kids. Paul Rudolph (and Lemmy) played on Bob Calvert's Captain Lockheed album. It's the best album Hawkwind never made!

The Batlord

Can't wait for Machine Head to get reviewed. Although, I imagine it'll be a little while waiting for it, since it'll be #1.

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Unknown Soldier

You psychic son of a bitch! You'll just have to wait and see

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
By 1972 bands were falling into quite a few diverse sub-categories, ranging from being either pseudo-satanic driven, melodic paced, having progressive leanings, shock-glam or just offbeat and weird. But the real heartbeat of the ‘heavy movement’ of this period, was without doubt hard rock bands that were high on heavy riffing and plenty of energy with either a heavy or an aggressive sound. Hard stuff were certainly heavy sounding and in many ways on the Bulletproof album, they sound like an archetypal heavy band of their era and a perfect example of the above. The truth though was quite different, in that they only lasted for two albums and didn’t make any commercial impact and they are only really remembered by hard rock enthusiasts! In fact this album sounds too archetypal of the genre, as songcraft was largely given over to sheer basic aggression at times. This is surprising when you examine the actual components of the band, who had actually come from more complex proggy roots, than the more basic rocking sound being featured on the album. Two of the band members John Du Cann and Paul Hammond had recently left Atomic Rooster, due to band leader Vincent Crane’s desire to go into a more soulful direction. The other two members were much travelled John Gustafson who had previously highlighted on the heavy Quatermass album by Quatermass (an album which I really should have featured on here due to its heavy leanings) The final component of the band was vocalist Harry Shaw ex of Curiosity Shoppe who came across as a mixture between Ian Gillan and the future Bon Scott, a singer who would never get any real recognition in his career. The band didn’t last long, partly due to poor album sales and the possible nomadic inclinations of its band members, they weren’t the type to stay in a band for any length of time. But the final straw, was the fact that Hard Stuff were dealt with a heavy blow, when both John Du Cann and Paul Hammond were involved in a traffic accident, thus prompting them to fold the band in 1973. So what does Bulletproof sound like? Well I’ve mentioned on previous entries here, that the Deep Purple influence at the time was significant and Hard Stuff were no exception to this influence.

Harry Shaw-Vocals
John Du Cann-Guitar
John Gustafson-Bass/Keyboards
Paul Hammond-Drums

Production- John Gustafson

Album
Jay Time- The album starts off with this nifty sounding sub-3 minute opener written by John Du Cann. Sinister Minister- The first thing that hits you is the songs heaviness, along with its pretty awesome riff that dominates throughout and at times it sounds like a Deep Purple song, it’s a great driving track and one of the best on the album. No Witch at All- One of the more complex songs on the album, with its different tempo and tone changes and a great platform for the vocals of Harry Shaw and the instrumentation of the band, might be my favourite cut on the album. Taken Alive- A standard rocker that is actually very representative of what was en-vogue circa 1972 in the UK. Time Gambler- A song basically driven by a great performance by Harry Shaw and he’s superbly accompanied by the rest of the band over an impressive 6 minutes of singing and playing. Millionaire- Another heavy monkey of a song and really highlighted by some great soloing by John Du Cann on guitar midway through the song and again Harry Shaw pummels his way through proceedings. Monster in Paradise- A song co-written by Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan and Roger Glover and easily could’ve been on their Fireball album. Hobo- A steady effort and shows that some of the weaker efforts on the album are still strong tracks. Mr. Longevity RIP- A 4 minute later album track that now comes across as a typical band effort. The Provider Pt.1- A groovy 2 minute closing track to close the album.

Verdict
A hard hitting effort from a bunch of talented individuals, that basically pooled together to produce an album that was in essence, less complex than what they were used to doing. The album is a hard-hitter without any shadow of a doubt, but there are still enough complex sections, to prevent the album as just being described as a great but basic hard rock effort. The whole Hard Stuff project, therefore begs the question, were they actually putting out a sound that they really wanted to put out on this album, or were they actually just keeping a firm eye on the commercial aspect of things! If commercialism was their aim, they would sadly fall well short of that goal, but whatever the aim of the album, we have before us an unsung hard rock classic of the era. As for the album, there is no need to speak about the great musical displays of John Du Cann, Paul Hammond and John Gustafson on Bulletproof because they play as expected, but I really think Harry Shaw needs to be mentioned, because he steals the show with his gruff true-rocking swagger of a voice, which at times sounds akin to Ian Gillan and at other times quite different, and in many ways he’s one of the great unsung hard rock vocalists of this period. His displays on “No Witch at All” “Time Gambler” and “Millionaire” are perfect examples of what a hard rock vocalist should be all about! After this album, things would go rapidly downhill for the band almost immediately, when Harry Shaw was ousted straight after the recording of Bulletproof, he wasn’t even credited on the album amazingly! Looking at the album cover, just reveals three faces and not four band members, his face had been removed! After this album, they would release only one more album in the superbly named Bolox Dementia where John Du Cann takes over vocal duties and it’s well worth checking out as well. As for Bulletproof, it doesn't play......it swaggers.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Big Ears

The road accident effected Paul Hammond's ability to play and he eventually committed suicide. The events were terribly sad and an enormous waste of a talented musician.

Unknown Soldier

He's a classic example of a talented musician that missed out and like most things in life he wasn't lucky. Atomic Rooster weren't a lucky band at all and Vincent Crane had an equally sad story.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
I found 1972 the toughest year so far for deciding on what to leave off the top 10 list and the biggest loser would finally be Budgie’s second album Squawk, which I felt wasn’t as strong as their debut and fell behind both the albums of the Hard Stuff and the Flower Travellin’ Band in terms of song quality. So with this in mind, the Flower Travellin’ Band make position number nine and follow up Satori with their North American based Made in Japan album, an album that was being made to break them in the west. In order to achieve this transition, a Satori Compilation album was released at the end of 1971 as a taster, featuring material from Satori and material that would also feature on the upcoming Made in Japan album. The Flower Travellin’ Band were now being marketed as a Japanese version of Led Zeppelin and their brand of hard rock was now being seen as a possible marketable Asian package for the west. If the truth be told though, their sound had progressive leanings and the wacky experimentation of the then burgeoning ‘Krautrock movement’ making them far more than a straight-up hard rock band! Also the band had that constant ‘I’m on an acid trip feel to them’ which was part of the band’s offbeat charm. So for this to happen and to make the band more marketable, a fair amount of tweaking would be needed to make the band accessible to western ears. So the band was shipped off lock, stock and barrel to North America, but not to the USA….but instead to Canada! They landed in Canada in 1971 and that would be their base to supposedly produce a more streamlined and accessible album for the western market. The band would be produced by Paul Hoffert of Canadian band Lighthouse, who put out a jazz-infused rock sound (their 1971 album One Fine Morning is worth checking out) This choice of producer, may well have put the band members at loggerheads with Paul Hoffert, who had clearly been picked by the record label and with the band having little say on the matter. Hindsight tells us that both parties were generally unsatisfied with the final product that is featured on Made in Japan, but many others would find it quite an intriguing listen.

Joe Yamanaka- Vocals
Hideki Ishima- Guitar
Jon Kuzuki- Bass
Joji ‘George’ Wada- Drums

Production- Paul Hoffert

Album
Introduction- A brief publicity intro advertising the band playing live, along with other well-known artists. Unaware- A mostly acoustic number the immediately draws comparisons with one of Jimi Hendrix’s softer tracks and leads us gently into the album. The latter section of the song sees Joe Yamanaka upping the volume and his voice dominates the song, I guess you either dig his voice or you don’t! Aw Give Me Air- A track that could have been on Satori albeit in a more complex form, it has a plodding feel and also has that very accessible feel to it, thanks to some impressive guitar licks. Kamikaze- This is classic Flower Travellin’ Band in every sense and one of the best tracks on the album. Starts off with some impressive singing accompanied by that potent guitar, before Joe Yamanaka enters some trippy singing and the guitar of Hideki Ishima is just so slick sounding. Hiroshima- A real leviathan of a track, touching on the haunting subject of ‘Hiroshima’ this song is one of the slower tracks on the album and the band show an almost creepy and cold perspective, on such a harrowing subject. Spasms- The most progressive track on the album and in many ways the type of track the band wanted to put out. Heaven and Hell- A weird song based around a love-theme and a subtle cry to the peace loving 1960s. That’s All- The album closer, again draws back to the band’s roots and has a funeral march feel to it, there’s even a sitar on show.

Verdict
Made in Japan is often a much maligned album, as purists often see it as betraying the band’s pure base sound which despite having western influences, was still firmly rooted in a Japanese sound and feel. I always felt that Made in Japan despite not being as spectacular as Satori, was still an impressive album that married the band’s base Japanese sound with a western dominated one and I’d go as far to say, that the band may have got their own way here over the record label, because I don’t hear too much in terms of accessibility on the album at all! Taking two of the best songs from the album “Kamikaze” and “Hiroshima” sees the band firmly sticking to their Satori roots and in “Hiroshima” they put out a song that moves along at a very slow pace, which at times feels similar to slower Black Sabbath leanings from the same period. In fact the slower mid-tempo songs tend to dominate the album. There is also nothing accessible about “Spasms” which I’ve already stated was more progressive in feel and saw the band aspiring to the ‘Krautrock sound’ that they were truly being influenced by. The closing track “That’s All” is the band putting out another sombre sounding track with some interesting experimentation. In fact only “Unaware” and “Aw Give Me Air” sees the band going somewhere to meet the record label half-way and putting out something more accessible. Needless to say, the album was poorly received and didn’t sell well and led to the band being largely forgotten for the rest of the decade. Made in Japan might not be as spectacular as Satori, but is probably their best album after that masterpiece and is well worth checking out. Especially since the album feels like it has been produced by an artist (Paul Hoffert) that wasn’t overly familiar with the genre he was producing. This can often lead to dodgy results, but at times it can lead to an interesting amalgamation of sounds and influences, and I feel Made in Japan falls into that second category. This album is most definitely for fans of the band rather than the average listener, as Joe Yamanaka’s voice along with the album’s slow to mid-tempo feel, may not be everybody’s cup of sake.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
The ‘heavy movement’ of this period was undoubtedly dominated by British acts, who had shown a far greater level of both commercial success and innovation within the genre, just think both Black Sabbath and Deep Purple here in terms of innovation and Led Zeppelin taking the blues to its heavy conclusion. The only US acts that could compete here were Grand Funk Railroad in commercial terms and recent breakthrough Alice Cooper in terms of innovation, but neither of these bands were seen as actual pioneers of the American proto-metal movement. This honour would fall to established acts like Blue Cheer and Mountain, along with newer bands like the previously featured Sir Lord Baltimore and Dust. Like Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust were another New York based outfit and like Sir Lord Baltimore were a three piece band and in additional member Kenny Kerner they had a lyricist and a producer. The one thing all these bands had in common though, was the tendency to operate as power-trios and the power-trio that Dust most aspired to sounding like, surely had to be Mountain and across the band’s minimal two album discography, there are strong links to the Mountain sound. Their first album which featured on my “Albums that missed the cut……” section for 1971, had seen the band put out a decent effort and the album had a definite Mountain influence to it. Their sophomore effort Hard Attack, would be an all-round more accomplished effort and despite its heavy leaning title, the band mixed in quite a few quieter moments and showed that they had real song writing qualities to match their all-out assault, and they certainly weren’t afraid to mix up the diversity either. Whilst the band would never achieve any real success, the band members would go on to other projects, with Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise forming a production team, who of course would go on to produce the first two Kiss albums a few years later, Kenny Aaronson would join Stories and Marc Bell would eventually wind up several years later as Marky Ramone! On a final note, the album cover of Hard Attack was extremely forward thinking for its time and would not have looked out of place ten years later in the era of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) or even as an album cover for a 1980s power metal band!

Richie Wise- Guitar/Vocals
Kenny Aaronson- Bass
Marc Bell- Drums

Production- Kenny Kerner

Album
Pull Away/So Many Times- Starts off with a gentle acoustic intro before the pace really picks up and leads us into quite a frantic song, before sweeping us back into another gentle interlude and then finally moving into heavier territory. Walk in the Soft Rain- A great example of the band’s songcraft, as gentle sections are meshed in with heavier sprinklings, this is really an accomplished song. Thusly Spoken- A slow moving song and I’m guessing that the listener by now, is probably wondering if this is actually a proto-metal album……listen on and find out. Learning to Die- Now we move into true heavy territory and this is a great song, even if it sounds amazingly at times like Mountain’s “Nantucket Sleighride” and in many ways sounds like a seminal heavy track of its era. All in All- Just a typical mid-album rocker, solid but nothing special. I Been Thinkin- Another quieter track before the album moves into its thumping instrumental effort. Ivory- A stunning instrumental set of less than 3 minutes, as the band show just what accomplished musicians they are, with some great guitar and drum work. How Many Horses- The most offbeat and unexpected track on the album and has a subtle country feel to it as well. Suicide- A stomping track that is truly heavy and amazingly covers similar ground to the “Suicide” track recorded by Stray a year earlier and also reminds me of the “Crazy Horses” track by the Osmonds, strangely enough also recorded in 1972. Entanco- A gentle acoustic outro.

Verdict
This again is another album that may not appeal to quite a few listeners and I’m guessing that anybody unfamiliar with the band, may not get what they might have expected from reading the overview and seeing the album title and its cover! Sure the listener will find the heaviness of Sir Lord Baltimore here, the sonic assault of Mountain, but they might not be expecting the numerous softer tracks, which sound far removed at times from a band of their ilk. The term accredited to the album ‘proto-metal’ might well be misleading as well thanks to the progressive elements featured here, but one thing is certain though, is that this band could be heavy when they wanted to. They could be heavy in an all-out assault style like Sir Lord Baltimore on the superb “Learning to Die” or on the instrumental “Ivory" but also in a much slower more methodical way and this style is very much in evidence on “Suicide”, which in turn makes some of the softer tracks like “Thusly Spoken” a real delight on the ears. Listening to this album, reveals quite a different band from some of their American counterparts, as they really had a flair for the melodic and songcraft, rather than a straight-up sonic assault and had they stayed together as a band, they may well have moved out of heavy territory and into softer terrain. As a band they could play and in frontman Richie Wise they had a stellar guitarist who could play a certain number of styles, but he was probably best highlighted on the “Learning to Die” and “Suicide” tracks. Overall the album is a great example of a band combining heavy numbers with quieter numbers and really demonstrating a contrast between the two styles. Another trick the band used to great effect on Hard Attack, is that you never really know what kind of track could be coming up next, whether it’s a gentle interlude or a real power drill effort, which really adds interest to the album. Dust as a band never really got off the ground and this album is one of those almost forgotten American proto-metal classics (if proto-metal is the right word for them) that has stayed locked away….. in a long forgotten musical vault.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

I listened to that album a while back and loved it. It's sound didn't strike me as particularly different or original, but the songs just did what they did so well. And I'm pretty sure that cover was from an old collection of Conan the Barbarian stories. At least it's on one of mine.

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