Unknown Soldier

I have toyed with this idea, but the problem with this is that I'd have to do the whole thing piecemeal and what is most interesting, is writing about these things on a year to year basis and then comparing them to each other. Also some genres are stronger than others in quality as well and a yearly list can example these differences better.

I might continue with a top 12 instead of a top 10 and also do features on the different sub genres as well and invent some new categories as well. Also the number 12 denotes the 12 calendar months and maybe I might base it around the 12 months of the year and the best releases for each month.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

1977

1977 was such a pivotal and exciting year in rock music as a whole, in fact despite the brilliance of the early 1970s, no year since 1967 had thrown up a batch of albums that challenged the traditional hierarchy of rock in such a way. Despite the similarities of the two years, 1977 was quite different to 1967 in that 1967 had established artists adopting a psychedelic stance over more traditional rock, whereas 1977 had new bands doing new things to challenge the existing hierarchy. The explosion of punk, new-wave and off-the wall rock bands was simply quite staggering at this time, as was the quality of the debut albums on show from the Clash, the Damned, the Stranglers, Dead Boys, Television, Talking Heads and the meanest sounding of them all from Cheap Trick! Not to be outdone the established order of Fleetwood Mac, Styx, Steely Dan, Rush, Pink Floyd and a revitalised David Bowie had put out cornerstone albums, in an age which also saw the rise especially in the USA of the disco era, just think the Bee Gees and you’re away. So where did this leave the bulk of hard rock and heavy metal bands? Well if you were an already established act such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult you were still selling by the bucketload and filling out concert arenas, regardless of whether you were putting out quality stuff or not and in the case of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath most definitely not! Other bands such as Budgie, Uriah Heep and Nazareth just to name a few where feeling the pinch creatively and looking a shadow of their former selves, despite the last two who were looking to fight back! Thus leaving bands like UFO and Thin Lizzy to keep the flag flying quality wise, along with recent breakthroughs in acts like Judas Priest and AC/DC. What this meant though at the bottom end of the spectrum in terms of new bands coming through, was that these bands were going to struggle in trying to take-off. So between 1977 and 1979 new music at the heavier end of the spectrum, just wasn’t getting the same amount of exposure as a lot of newer and older established genres. Despite this negative, 1977 would still throw up a strong selection of albums to keep the flag flying and in the shape of an unlikely rock opera Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf, the genre would have one of the biggest selling albums of all time.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Balls to you, daddy. Dead Boys were ass. Just the fat from Rocket from the Tombs that David Thomas and Peter Laughner wisely cut. There's nothing that they did that a million punk bands haven't done better, before or since.

__________________

Unknown Soldier

That's why I'm not doing a journal on punk, but I do think that's a very good album.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
In the mid to late 1970s Canada had a steady hard rock and heavy metal scene, this had largely come about through the likes of the widely-acclaimed Rush, who despite having switched their allegiances from being an early hard rock outfit to a progressive one in the mid-1970s, had still done much to publicise and give a certain amount of impetus to the Canadian scene. Canadian bands usually faced two options when starting out and that was to make it domestically at the expense of international success, or look to break in the much bigger and more lucrative US market. Bands as different as Bachman Turner Overdrive, Mahogany Rush, April Wine, Moxy, Teaze and the super eclectic Max Webster all fell into one of these two categories. The problem that these bands then faced, was getting correct support from their record labels to promote the bands and this was sadly lacking circa mid-1970s, and some pretty talented bands never got past a couple of albums, Toronto based outfit the Hunt were one such band. They were formed in 1977 from the remains of other local bands and were fronted by keyboardist and vocalist Jacques Harrison, and the four other musicians on board were Paul Dickinson, Paul Cockburn, Gerry Mosby and Paul Kersey the ex-drummer of Max Webster, these four then quickly issued their debut set the self-titled The Hunt. This debut album was surprisingly sharp and diverse, and addressed the wide influences of the band. Not only that, but the album also showed enough diversity to be considered an early example of progressive metal. The big problem though, was that this was 1977 and the musical excellence of the band which had its strong roots in luminaries such as Led Zeppelin, Rush, Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull, didn’t go down too well with record labels, who were constantly looking to jump on the punk and new-wave bandwagon, around this time when it came to new bands. The Hunt debut was released in 1977 without much fanfare and completely went unnoticed in its native Canada. In fact the only place it got any airplay was in Texas, largely thanks to influential local DJ Joe "The Godfather" Anthony. The band ploughed on and released another couple of albums and gathered some future successes in their native Canada, but by 1984 they folded and were resigned to the bin of rock, until uncovered many years later. In fact I only discovered this band about a year ago, after having them on a listen-to-list for a number of years………but never got round to listening to them, as I wasn’t expecting them to be any good!

Jaques Harrison- Keyboards/Vocals
Paul Dickinson- Guitar
Paul Cockburn- Guitar
Gerry Mosby- Bass/Keyboards
Paul Kersey- Drums

Production- Steve Vaughan

The Album
I Was Only Dreaming- With a gentle acoustic intro more akin to an early 1970s prog rock band, the song beefs itself up as a kind of heavier Jethro Tull in feel especially with its flute. Then there are some unsurprising Geddy Lee style vocals to follow, before then taking on a more Robert Plant type stance. Song for a New Day- A strong and energetic track, that shows the power and energy of the band. This song is basically a cut above a lot of the mediocre heavy songs around at this time and feels out its lengthy playing time very well. Little Miss Perfection- Another great song and a really powerful player on the album. The song is a true stunner in every aspect and superbly leads into….. I Want to Be King- With its crafty keyboard intro, the song continues the tempo of the previous song. This track has some real badass playing at times and this is basically one of those songs where the band lets it all hang out…..right to the very end! Faces- With its heavy percussion, the song gives way to an easy listening heavy number with some interesting changes, that really is an album track in every aspect. Billy- Unable to re-listen to the song as not on the internet. Sent- Unable to re-listen to the song as not on the internet. On Revient (Tout les Temps)- A real oddity of a song that is totally sung in French. Sad Song- Unable to re-listen to the song as not on the internet.

Verdict
Whenever I listen to a Canadian hard rock or heavy metal bands from the 1970s, I never know what to expect really. Half seem to be too influenced by Rush for their own good and the other half range from being just plain mediocre to downright good, just think Moxy when it comes to being downright good! The Hunt were most definitely in the ‘very good’ category and luckily took all the good bits from their Rush influences, in fact these influences were so well melded at times with their other influences, that you can hardly hear Rush at all! From the word go, the Hunt come across a multi-talented band, who even sang one song in French on the album for good measure! The listener can pick up the strong Jethro Tull vibe on offer on the opening song and a vocal style that has touches of both Geddy Lee and Robert Plant, and their music has some strong and heavy undertones constantly throughout. The first song “I Was Only Dreaming” comes across as a low key opener, but what it does do, is lays down the fact that this is a band with a number of cards up their sleeves. Things beef themselves up for the rolling “Song for a New Day” which reaches for a wider audience from the word go and has the trappings of everything that was great about hard rock at this time, and the song is a true delight. By the time of the third and fourth tracks “Little Miss Perfection” and “I Want to Be King” it’s obvious that this band really know what they’re doing and if these powerhouse songs had come out a couple of years earlier, and gotten the break the band deserved. The band may well have gone on to be major players from their time, because the talent was surely there in abundance. The Hunt were surely a great loss, because they were one of those few bands that were able to offer the listener a certain amount of diversity, quality and song-writing ability within a powerful setting, and on top of that they really knew how to harness some real power when needed as well. The album will surely be of interest to anybody looking for 1970s progressive rock and progressive metal.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
At the time of Rock City’s release, the American scene as far as bands at the heavier end of the spectrum had started to polarize, in what would be the all too familiar East Coast/West Coast divide. Up until now the East Coast was where the quality bands came from, just think the Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss and Aerosmith. But of course that was no guarantee of success, as a number of talented bands from there hadn’t made it such as Sir Lord Baltimore, Bang and Dust. The current crop of East Coast bands that were now popping up, had already included the likes of Starz and also the far more talented Riot. Riot were a New York City based band, that had been formed by guitarist and songwriter Mark Reale and he was soon joined by Guy Speranza on vocals, Lou A.Kouvaris guitar, Jimmy Iommi bass (no relation to Tony) and Peter Bitelli on drums, and Riot typified everything that would be vital to mainstream metal for the next decade at least. From the word go, the band went in for an arena based sound, that relied on true heavy metal credentials, melodic flair, energetic overtures and a tight production, all making the record just seem the kind of thing that the label could promote, but what did the label do…..they just went and released this album in Japan! Which does seems strange, considering the popularity at the time of arena rock bands in general. It would take quite a few years for Riot to make their commercial breakthrough on the excellent Fire Down Under in 1981, but the foundations to their sound had certainly been laid on this strong debut. Any metal historian, could easily link a line that goes from bands like UFO to Def Leppard in terms of influence and sound, but that line surely goes through a band like Riot as well with their arena sound. Unsurprisingly the band were built around the vocal prowess of Guy Speranza who dominated the band’s sound from the word go. The album’s tight production is credited to Steve Loeb, who would go onto to produce the first big chunk of the band’s discography, as well as working with the future Public Enemy. On a downside, the band went in for an albino-type creature as a kind of band logo (pre-Eddie the Head here) and sadly the band’s first several albums are littered with this creature, whose presence still to this day, overshadows the quality of the band’s early sound.

Guy Speranza- Vocals
Mark Reale- Guitar
Lou A.Kouvaris- Guitar
Jimmy Iommi- Bass
Peter Bitelli- Drums

Production- Steve Loeb

The Album
Desperation- With a classic metal pounding intro, this song sets the stall out for the rest of the album and Guy Speranza’s vocal style would be much mimicked in the 1980s by a number of vocalists. Warrior- Not too different from the opening track, as the band usher us through another energetic track and the song is surely a great exponent of what would become known as speed metal in the 1980s. Rock City- The title track has a heavy and crunchy intro and needless to say is another straight-up energetic track, and probably displays more 1970s overtures than the previous two tracks. Overdrive- Slower and heavier from the word go, before picking up speed and adding in some heavy riffing to mix things up a bit. This is a great song and a great metal listen, and probably the best track on the album. Angel- Another guitar based intro and it’s obvious that the band have put out their first weak track on the album, by placing it further down the listening list, but saying that though, the song is still kind of addictive! Tokyo Rose- A more melodic track that comes across as an obvious single choice here and it certainly resonates a UFO sound style here. Heart of Fire- A pacey and catchy song that has both a distinctive gusto style, feel and beat about it. The song is a quality cut if ever there was one. Gypsy Queen- A strong and melodic track and one of the lighter-weight tracks on the album. This is What I Get- A catchy melodic track, that isn’t exactly a world away from the kind of thing that Boston could’ve put out around this time.

Verdict
Rock City is largely an album of tight metal cuts, which are full of energy and bite, along with riffs aplenty. The strength of the album surely lays in its top-heavy opening section where the best cuts are placed, such as “Desperation” “Warrior” “Rock City” and the excellent “Overdrive”. The album largely serves up, a what you hear is what you get kind of experience, certainly mirroring the Montrose debut of a couple of years earlier. The real strength of Rock City though, is that the album supplied to the metal community, all the bits that were missing from Judas Priest’s interpretation of metal around this time. The band certainly didn’t have the sinister feel that Priest did and instead went in for a vibrant and catchy sound……something that Priest themselves would eventually do on British Steel several years later. Neither did they have the exaggerated vocal stance of Rob Halford, as Guy Speranza just simply went in for an energetic burst instead. The riffs were also less exaggerated than those of Priest and tended to meld into the songs rather than dominate them. You could kind of say, that Riot and Judas Priest more or less symbolized the differences between British and American metal at this time. Rock City is not a classic debut per se, but it’s a strong and a must listen to album for anybody into American metal around this time. The album demonstrates a metal lineage that goes from the commercial American heavy acts of the time and then adds speed metal elements into the mix, which would go on to influence a number of future speed and power metal bands further up the road. Also Guy Speranza’s bell-like voice certainly influenced a number of the future glam metal acts as well, in fact the listener can pick up a sleazy stance on the band’s overall sound, a factor that would link them to the future glam metal bands of the 1980s. In fact the band after the Guy Speranza era, would actually go onto adopt a more power metal stance in the late 1980s. Rock City is a perfect example of what American commercial metal should’ve sounded like in the late 1970s had the band made their breakthrough....but alas the album went completely unnoticed in the USA at the time of its release.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

A diamond in the rough, that didn't fit the slot.

Overview
If anybody saw the name Legs Diamond for the first time, they would more than likely think of them as an early American glam metal band and coming from Los Angeles (even though some sources say San Francisco) that would surely enforce the belief even more. But they would be wrong on all counts, from early on in their career the band were christened “The American Deep Purple” in much the way that bands like the Blue Oyster Cult and Bang, had been christened as “The American Black Sabbath” many years earlier. Also with the growing East Coast/West Coast divide in the USA, Legs Diamond found themselves lumped in with the likes of Y&T who had already issued a mediocre debut and Quiet Riot who had released an even worse debut. Legs Diamond from the word go, were well and truly a cut above either of those two bands when it came to songcraft. The band had nothing in common with what would become known as the ‘Sunset Strip’ bands and instead went in for well crafted, slick and proggy laden songs, and then confounded us by issuing a string of stripped down basic hard rock tracks as well! In general they were a world away from the likes of other newish bands, despite having likeminded cousins in the Hunt (see review) and like the Hunt they would be doomed to commercial failure, despite the fact that metal fans do remember Legs Diamond and they don’t remember the Hunt! Legs Diamond weren’t slow at getting off the ground and issued through Mercury two albums in 1977 and two great albums they were as well. The debut album which is the second album in this double header follows straight after, as their second album A Diamond is a Hard Rock is the stronger of the two. I have seen though, that their debut has actually been included in Kerrang’s 1989 “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time” list and a fairly high placing as well! The band were also a favourite of the influential DJ Joe "The Godfather" Anthony who championed the band. The band’s debut album was produced by British producer Derek Lawrence who had produced the likes of Wishbone Ash and most importantly the first three albums of the MK.I Deep Purple and hence the Deep Purple connection. Any chance of success that the band may have had though, was surely ruined the following year anyway with the arrival of the Van Halen debut, which was a world away from what Legs Diamond were doing and an album that would shape American East Coast metal for decades to come. As for Legs Diamond, the band are fondly remembered in metal circles as “The Best Undiscovered Band in America”.

Rick Sanford- Vocals
Roger Romeo- Guitar
Michael “Diamond” Gargano- Bass
Michael Durham Prince- Rhythm/Keyboards
Jeff Poole-Drums

Production- Edward Leonetti

The Album
A Diamond is a Hard Rock- A driving and pounding intro before the vocals of Rick Sanford kick in on the title track, a good song despite being fairly one dimensional throughout. Waiting- A slower track that doesn’t let up on the heaviness one bit and its opening organ is distinctly a leaf out of the Deep Purple song book and the song is stronger than the album opener. Longshot- Heavy and catchy, and a song which at times reminds me of how an up-tempo Blue Oyster Cult might sound like, largely because vocalist Rick Sanford sounds like Eric Bloom here, as he does on several other songs. Woman- A slow deliberate song of over 6 minutes, that surely ranks as one of the best songs that the band ever put out, the song actually threatened to become a major hit at the time, something which would’ve done the band real favours and done justice to the actual track. Jailbait- Another pounding effort with a classic metal anthem feel about it and it’s a top quality cut as well, to finish the first side of the album and at times sounds like something that Judas Priest could’ve done. I Think I Got It- Starts side two and it’s the band at their fastest here and features great vocals by Rick Sanford, along with some great swirling keyboard touches by Michael Durham Prince and it’s a real pile-driver of a song. Evil- One of the band’s progressive hard rockers, which features a flute accompaniment and still manages to be one heavy mother of a song! Live a Little- As the title suggests, the song is an upbeat track and for just an album track it again shows some real quality, at times the song has glam rock flourishes in its chorus section and has that catchy feel. Flyin’ Too High- A hooky sounding track that has that addictive feel to listen to and another strong album track. High School Queen- A slightly disappointing album closer, considering the quality that has gone before it.

Verdict
All Music describes Legs Diamond on this album as having a “Musically Split-Personality Disorder” This largely comes about from the album’s eclectic and odd feel. Side two of the album by and large is based around well-crafted hard rock tracks, with a heavy dosage of progressive rock and a certain amount of eclecticism, whilst the first side largely goes in for a more repetitive and mostly frugal rock style with commercial tinges. The album as a cohesive whole certainly doesn’t sit well at all, but luckily though nearly all these tracks are quality compositions with hardly a weak track in sight and for these reasons the album makes the cut. So looking at side one the more frugal side, the title track “A Diamond is a Hard Rock” is an expected bludgeoning title track without any thrills and is later mirrored by the closing track on side one “Jailbait”. The heavy organ on the second track “Waiting” is as near as the band got to sounding like Deep Purple (which was always a fickle comparison anyway) and “Longshot” which sounds very much like a single and has the added bonus of a slight farfisa solo. If the previous songs came across as largely one-dimensional “Woman” goes a long way to rectify this, as the musical ability of the band leaves no doubt of their ability to write classic material such as this and it’s a classic cut. The second side of the album actually flows better with the electric “I Think I’ve Got It” showing us that side two is where the real songcraft of the album actually is and then there is the eclectic “Evil” a great heavy proggy-rocker. “Live a Little” is an easy listening rocker and “Flyin Too High” sounds somewhat akin to Aerosmith and then the lightweight album closer “High School Queen”. The Achilles heel of Legs Diamond surely had to be their lack of true commitment to either their hard rock or progressive rock tendencies. Both albums featured here demonstrate the superb ability of the band on both types of music and the hybrids between the two sounds are indeed accomplished at times. But the group don’t quite master the art of mixing both hard rock and progressive rock as a happy medium, as well as say Atomic Rooster did on an album like Death Walks Behind You or the one-off album by Armageddon released just a few years earlier for example. Quite often Legs Diamond come across as a band that combines frugal hard rock with sophisticated progressive rock flourishes here and there, rather than being a cohesive listen. This Achilles Heel even splits fans and critics in which sound actually exemplifies the band. For all that though, the band are probably the most interesting listen on this year’s list and certainly one of the heaviest.

The wild wind that blows across the sea.

Rick Sanford- Vocals
Roger Romeo- Guitar
Michael “Diamond” Gargano- Bass
Michael Durham Prince- Rhythm/Keyboards
Jeff Poole-Drums

Production- Derek Lawrence

The Album
It’s Not the Music- With a strong progressive rock intro that is draped in organs, the song has a sedate and deliberate feel, and is a worthy album opener. Stage Fright- Distinct to the previous song in every way and the song displays a certain amount of toughness that was certainly the order of the day for many a band out there at the time. The song really demonstrates the influences and the scope of the band all in one solid rocker. Satin Peacock- Raspy and tough sounding, this song is hard rock as it should always be played and features a solid workout by the band. Rock and Roll Man- This is largely a progressive rock track, which is boosted up by the band’s hard rock tendencies. It’s really an accomplished and interesting listen throughout especially with its flute, and it’s a real album highlight. Deadly Dancer- A 2 minute plus stinging gusto of a song and really shows that the band had some real venom when required. Rat Race- A fairly all-encompassing song that captures the true spirit and quality of the band with their love of progressive rock, even though the song must’ve come across as fairly debatable for its time. Can’t Find Love- An 8 plus minute album closer, that surely focuses more on the hard rock aspects of the band, but unsurprisingly the organs get a look in the later part of the song and it’s one of the heaviest tracks on the whole album.

Verdict
An accomplished debut in every aspect and not exactly a world away from the Angel debut a few years earlier, where proggy flourishes had highlighted that album as well. Legs Diamond from the word go, demonstrate their love for progressive rock on the album opener “It’s Not the Music” which features organs to give the band’s hard rock, a truly progressive rock feel. The album opener is really in stark contrast to the second song “Stage Fright” which sounds far more like a heavy version of Rush at times, and the song also has some solid and heavy guitar work throughout, and then there is “Satin Peacock” which really does show the toughness of the band, along with the stinging “Deadly Dancer” as well. Then there are hybrids like “Rock and Roll Man” which sound like a mating outcome between the hard rock and progressive rock aspects of the band, and makes for an impressive six minute listen and probably it’s the best song on the album. Another one of these hybrids is the impressive and lengthy “Rat Race” and will appeal to anybody that liked the previous song. The album closer “Can’t Find Love” is a heavy and lengthy album closer, which by and large focuses on the hard rock characteristics of the band, despite the proggy additions that enter into the song later on. With the exception of bands like Rush, new bands putting out anything with a strong progressive rock influence, were certainly running the risk of being deemed outdated at this time and thus losing the commercial marketing push that the record label could provide. A band like Legs Diamond for all their talent were one such band, who refused to compromise on the type of music that they wanted to play. In fairness the band should’ve seen it coming, especially after the debacle of the Angel debut the supposed rivals to Kiss just a few years earlier and after this Angel had to sacrifice their sound in order to take a more streamlined and commercial route to please the record label. Legs Diamond on the other hand, came across as a beast less certain of the direction that they should take and seemed less inclined initially, given their fairly eclectic approach to their own music and their lack of desire to initially say adios to the early 1970s progressive rock influences that they loved so much.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Mojo

Quite a few bands over these last few pages here that I have never heard of before. Not even the names. I'll have to check out the YT videos when I get a chance (filtered here at college) and see if theres anything here I can get into.

I also tend to neglect the 1970s for a lot of harder rock and heavy metal music. I'm really into 60s psych/garage and then I have a lot of 80s metal, mostly thrash, and so the 70s often doesnt receive as much attention as it probably should.

__________________

Last.FM | Echoes and Dust

Urban Hat€monger ?

I'll be very disappointed if you don't cover Violation or Attention Shoppers by Starz.
If were talking underrated mid 70s rock they're practically the poster boys for it.

__________________

Unknown Soldier

That's a huge gap in your listening to avoid the bulk of a decade, especially since most of the stuff that you love in the 1980s would've been hugely influenced by most of these albums in the 1970s. Get listening my friend

Well they're not in my initial top 10 for sure, but I could do a feature to bulk out the year, which kind of interests me with Starz. I don't think they're underrated at all, as they weren't that good anyway musically, they had some good and catchy songs and were certainly loud when they wanted to be. Their big problem was that they came out a few years too early, had they come out a few years later, they would've caught the glam metal boom. I guess they weren't as lucky as Quiet Riot who were around at the same time.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History