Unknown Soldier

Keep on jamming you bastards! Part.1

Overview
One of the great success stories of their time. Grand Funk Railroad were one of the biggest and most prolific power-trio outfits to have ever existed and in between the years of 1969-1972 all six of their studio album releases either went platinum or gold. They followed on from the power trios of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Blue Cheer and introduced us to their jamming hard rock style. They hugely benefitted from the production of the already aforementioned Terry Knight (having already worked together on Terry Knight & the Pack a few years earlier) and cut a sound that hit borderline blues rock and hard rock. Their sound was built around extended jamming rather than raw power and this is most evident on their early releases, where there is just so much energy. This album their debut along with their sophomore set (higher on the list) were hallmarks of their time and prove to be the perfect junction between blues rock, hard rock, melodic rock and heavy extended jamming. The band were often criticized over their lack of technical prowess but have always sounded good to my ear. Mark Farner was one hell of a frontman, Don Brewer just thrashed away on the drums and bassist Mel Schacher was the heart of the band's throbbing sound. Mark Farner also dominated proceedings when it came to writing both the music and the lyrics for these early GFR albums.

Mark Farner- Guitar/Vocals
Mel Schacher- Bass
Don Brewer- Drums

Production- Terry Knight

Album
Are You Ready?- An upbeat rocker where Mel Schacher's bass is the dominant instrument here, as it is throughout most of the album. Anybody's Answer- A typical GFR song that is high on energy with a haunting riff that echoes in and out. Time Machine- A typical and steady blues rock shuffle with added harmonica for effect. High on a Horse- Catchy song and one of the shortest on the album. T.N.U.C- An 8 minute track that is just dominated by a drum solo, if you like drum solos check this monkey out. Into the Sun- Mid-tempo instrumental the eventually leads into a funky rocker, this was always a popular song when performed live. Heartbreaker- One of my favourite songs on the album, a love song with a haunting bridge that is the highlight of the song, and the song really picks up towards the end as well. Call Yourself a Man- dominated by what would become a trademark GFR beat, another very good song. Can't Be Too Long- Decent song but at 6 plus minutes its overlong, in fact the song title seems to state this fact as well. Ups and Downs- Album finales are usually amongst the strongest songs on most albums, but this is GFR at their most disjointed, as they try a variety of styles that simply don't work that well. Luckily the rest of the album was very good, so this song can really be overlooked.

Verdict
A superb jamming album that might not be to everybody' s taste, especially since it clocks in at around 50 minutes, which was long for its time. The jamming at times is extensive and this album by some could easily be cast off as one of those examples of instrumental wankery! Much of the criticism aimed at the album, often revolves around misplaced instrumental solos that have a tendency to fit in where more structured instrumentals should be, but that's GFR for you and one of the reasons I love their early work. In some ways I find this album more exciting than the sophomore effort also released the same year (Led Zeppelin would also manage this feat as well) but I've placed the sophomore set higher up on the list, as it's a tighter and a more compact effort that still manages to hold the energy of this album and would prove to be an influential piece of work as well.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
A lot of people seem to think that metal and prog came together in the 1980s, it largely did to a degree as it got its official label around this time and prog metal was born. But long before that, bands were forging proto-metal and prog together to startling effect and long forgotten British band High Tide were one such band. Their debut album Sea Shanties remains the perfect example of this, where they released a stunning example of these two styles, which were blended in with their root psychedelic sound. Like any great album of the time, it got a scathing review from the British music press, who seemed to have it in for any band that played too heavy. Talking of heavy, this album was damn heavy at times and also totally unpredictable in its musical flow and direction. The guitar work of main man Tony Hill was blistering at times with his impressive grinding riffage, along with his doomy sounding Jim Morrison vocal delivery. Equally impressive was Simon House who didn't play the guitar, bass, drums or solely the organ, BUT also played the violin in the band to a startling degree and never did the violin sound so great again until the future days of Kansas in the mid-1970s.

Tony Hill- Guitar/Vocals
Pete Pavli- Bass
Simon House- Violin/Organ
Roger Hadden- Drums

Production- Denny Gerrard

Album
Futilist's Lament- This is pounding and heavy and a foretaster of the soon to come Black Sabbath sound and is this Jim Morrison singing here? The answer is no of course, but it sure as hell sounds like him. Death Warmed Up- A 9 minute scorching instrumental highlighted by both House and Hill. Pushed, But Not Fogotten- A great early example of soft-hard dynamics all in one song. Walking Down Their Outlook- A song full of multi-part arrangements and complex playing, that shares ground with the debut King Crimson album that was also released in 1969. Missing Out- Another 9 minutes of interplay between Hill and House but this time with singing included. Nowhere- The closing track on the album and another slice of Morrison sounding vocals here. The 2006 remastered version of the album has two great additions, in the shape of the 11 minute King Crimson or Yes sounding Great Universal Protection Racket but of course High Tide played much heavier and Dilemma another great addition for the remaster.

Verdict
One of the best kept secrets around as the album largely went unnoticed, despite just achieving enough sales for the record label to give the band a second album. It's one of these albums that a whole load of future bands seem to have dug out and been influenced by. Hawkwind were big fans of this album (so I've read) In terms of heaviness, this album along with the first two Led Zeppelin albums, were probably the three heaviest releases of the year. The band would never quite attempt to do anything quite as heavy again sadly and opted out to move in a more straight-up proggy direction, and in essence they became a far less interesting proposition, as their second album the eponymous High Tide and future albums would suggest. Even though I've positioned this album in seventh spot, I would say its probably the most interesting listen of the ten albums that I've selected here. As a footnote, any modern metal connoisseur would be sure to pick up on some of the early doom and stoner metal sounds that can be heard on here. A highly recommended bit of work.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Just wanted to say great work so far. A few albums I've never even heard of, but you review them well, and I like the format you're using. Interested to see what pops up next! (munching popcorn, except I'm not as I hate it, but you get the idea...)

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Glad you like it. I was torn between how detailed I should make these album reviews. If I was doing just a few albums I would've made them even more detailed and longer, but as the project is so vast I decided to go for a more basic but informative presentation, that is straight to the point and easy to read.

A the moment each review takes about 40 mins to write, which is about the length of an album, in fact I'm writing the reviews whilst listening to the actual album. All the albums I know well anyway, but re-listening to refresh myself on them. The list I already mentioned before, has already been pre-determined.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Mrd00d

Great work so far and so glad to see High Tide! Love that album!

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Mrd00d's Last.fm

Howard the Duck

pretty brilliant thus far

and your Bloodrock review reminded me I needed to get reacquainted with them so I got 2 and USA

Abracadaver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

The Batlord

You've already given me a few albums I need to track down whenever I get off this thrash metal kick I've been on for the last couple days. Really dig the layout. Not too longwinded, but still very interesting.

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Unknown Soldier

Great to see that somebody else knows this album, its a hidden gem that needs to be shared.

As I mentioned never enjoyed the rest of their albums that much. Glad you're enjoying the journal.

When I started doing these reviews, I thought what puts me off when reading some album reviews written by others and that is that they can be longwinded. Therefore I went for a summary type review system.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Mrd00d

My sentiments exactly! Well done!

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Mrd00d's Last.fm

Trollheart

That would be me...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018