Quaco wrote:What about the Erik Brann-led albums, Scorching Beauty and Sun and Steel? I've only heard bits, but it seemed like pretty generic hard rock. Should I reassess?
Nah.
I found a flac download of the BGO 2-on-1 CD of both albums (including booklet scans!), and just listened to the whole darned thing. The liner notes suggest that those who keep an open mind and don't expect these records to sound like the '60s ones will find much to admire here; a review quoted at the site I downloaded from said much the same. I'll rephrase the sentiment: if you listen to both albums
actively looking for things to praise, you might find some. The playing is generally good, if unexceptional, and there's the occasional song that might have been serviceable filler on someone's
good album. But that's the best I can do, and I'm being kind.
The main problems:
- There were worse singers in the world than Erik Brann (or Braunn, as he was calling himself by this time) - I always liked his singing on "Termination" (
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida) and "Belda-Beast" (
Ball) - but he just didn't have the chops to pull off the kind of high-intensity hard rock screeching he was usually going for here. And a relatively dry vocal mix does his limitations no favors.
- The closest either album comes to a genuinely catchy song is keyboardist Bill DeMartines' anomalous Elton John-ish ballad "Beyond The Milky Way". (In fact, the chorus of that song is almost uncomfortably close to that of "Tiny Dancer".)
- Whether you liked the '60s Iron Butterfly or loathed them, they had their own musical identity - their own sound, a distinctive approach to arranging - their own aesthetic. This band is competent but faceless. If they didn't have the brand name and the recording budget to go with it, they'd be indistinguishable from a Midwest bar band making a private press record to sell to their local fans.
Well, at least I can finally say I've heard them!