Bmiler Just to let you know I'm only familiar with the slightly later version that included John Du Cann's involvement. Apparently when Du Cann joined the group, they decided to redo their debut album by including his guitar work, and on "Friday the 13th" his vocals. The true original featured their cover of John Mayall's "Broken Wings" in side two, while this later version had that song on side one (as well as a couple other songs switched). This John Du Cann version was meant for an American release, but that never happened, so instead it ended up as the second pressing on the B&C label. The true original would only have minimal guitar from bassist and vocalist Nick Graham (who would jump ship to Skin Alley), with of course, plenty of organ work from Vincent Crane.

Anyways, for all you ELP fans, this is the Atomic Rooster album with Carl Palmer's involvement. He had played with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (who also featured Vincent Crane) on tour (but never recorded with them). I have to let you know that Nick Graham's vocals are an acquired taste. The album starts off with "Friday the 13th", a great opening piece. With the John Du Cann version, it could have easily belonged on Death Walks Behind You. "And So To Bed" is another favorite of mine, with lyrics regarding the band telling a groupie off ("You don't want me/you don't need me/all you need is sex with fame"). Then they get more bluesy with their cover of John Mayall's "Broken Wings" then come with a killer instrumental piece, "Before Tomorrow". This song made you wished Carl Palmer would have stayed in Atomic Rooster. "Winter" is a rather mellow piece, with (I believe) Vincent Crane handling the vocals. They even go a bit in Jethro Tull territory with flute from Nick Graham.

Although their classic is their next album, Death Walks Behind You, you still want this album as this is a fine example of organ driven proto-metal, the kind Purple, Heep and many others had also done often so well.

Valarius To be honest, I'm not really a huge fan of Atomic Rooster, and only bought this album because it was £1 and I thought it'd be worth checking out.

With that said, I'm actually surprised at how much I like some of the songs. I wasn't expecting Atomic Rooster to be so Jazzy/Funky. While these may not be Progressive Rock masterpieces, and certainly not the kind of music I would listen to very often, there are a few nice tunes in here which definitely make it worth the pound I spent on it.

The main highlight for me is ‘Stand By Me’, a song which I liked immediately upon hearing it. I've also grown rather fond of ‘Don't Know What Went Wrong’, ‘Can't Find a Reason’ and ‘Take One Toke’.

In fact, I like all the songs on offer here, but obviously some more than others. This doesn't mean this record will be a regular in my playlist. Nor does it mean I'm suddenly going to rush out and buy more Atomic Rooster albums. I can't even say if this is a fair representation of the band as I don't know anything about them.

This certainly isn't the best CD in my collection, but it's a nice little treat to go back to every now and again.

Certif1ed The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was an amazing band - with no member more amazing than Arthur himself, whose vocal pyrotechnics are a complete joy to behold, providing a range of styles and techniques rarely heard in the world of rock or pop music combined with an instinctive feel for the dramatic. A most undersung hero, I think.

As Warthur notes, at the time, Hammond power trios were ten-a-penny - and it's worth checking out the amazing Atilla, led by none other than piano man, Mr Billy Joel, even though Atilla are, strictly speaking, a Hammond duo rather than a trio. You want wild, metal craziness? It's right there!

Meanwhile, back at the farm, the Rooster's first outing is a so-so affair, and not really of interest to metal fans, hence the low rating.

The opener, Friday The Thirteenth is a slightly out-of-tune mishmash that seems to aim at the heavier side of the Prog market - a dark flavoured organ driven piece, and, if I'm not mistaken, there is an uncredited guitar in there padding out the sound.

The organ solo is deeply inspired by the likes of Mick Weaver and Alan Hawkshaw - the unmistakable funky licks shining through.

There's quite a cool tension/release dramatic structure overall, and the music seems to segue nicely from one song to another - although some of the overdubs are a little instrusive, like the piano interjections layered over the organ.

Carl Palmer drives the rhythm section on very nicely indeed in a swingin' foot-tappin' manner, with walky bass lines and short, repetitive motifs that hint at riffs, without developing into anything interesting. The music really seems to be trying to recreate the sounds of Kingdom Come, but without Brown, this is a mere shadow. A pretty good, shadow, vocals apart - but Crane's playing is rather messy and spoils it a bit for me.

Continuing in the Mansfield/Hawkshaw/Weaver mould, "Broken Wings" is a nice piece of progressive sounding blues, with some great drumming from Palmer - as you might expect. The brass section seems like an afterthought, like a kind of tribute to Atom Heart Mother.

Although it's fair to say that this album sounds pretty much like almost any other organ-driven act of the time, there is overall a nice tightness to it, a consistently dark flavour, and the amazing instinctive and perfectly tight drumming of Palmer to hold it all together.

It's not worth going through the other tracks except to point out highlights, as there is no metal on this album whatsoever, proto or otherwise and, as has been already pointed out, they do tend to blend together with no real identity.

A collector's item only for fans of 1970s Heavy/Hard/organ-based rock - or Carl Palmer afficiandoes!

1967/ 1976 This is another compilation with DuCann/ Crane material. And it is a great compilation. I have to say that music is very melodic yet powerful. The combination of simple but not banal rhythms, guitars sometimes easy and sometimes heavy and organ with really intriguing rhythmic are the basis of a Heavy Rock never dull. The lack of a real singer, not a defect, in this case, Because DuCann written for you vocals parts suited to him, aggressive but not complicated.

Honestly, listening to this compilation, I listen a good music that combines progressive (Crane) and Heavy Metal (DuCann) without one or the other genre, but merging into a truly personal Hevy Metal, still present and feasible for many bands.

A good compilation is this. Not only for Atomic Rooster fans.

Warthur Vincent Crane had to rebuild his band from scratch since the debut, but in doing so he picked up the guitar talents of John Du Cann, whose arrival crystallises the band's sound on this second album. Whereas Crane's songwriting dominated the debut, this time around Crane and Du Cann share compositional duties more or less evenly, and between the pair of them they are able to carve out a distinctive and novel sound for the band.

The trio takes the dark and brooding themes unleashed that year by Black Sabbath, speeds the playing up, and enhances Du Cann's volcanic guitar playing with Crane's organ backing. The result is a fusion of prog-flavoured hard rock and proto-metal, with some doom metal spice (especially on the title track). Although the closing track is weak in points (it does sometimes turn into a showcase for Crane's organ solos), otherwise the album is solid from beginning to end. If Black Sabbath's two 1970 albums formed the blueprint for doom metal, this album has to be one of the foundational documents of more traditional metal (I particularly hear its influence in New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts of the late 1970s). Possibly the band's finest work.