MAHOGANY RUSH — Child of the Novelty (review)

MAHOGANY RUSH — Child of the Novelty album cover Album · 1974 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
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Frank Marino and his band Mahogany Rush hit the music scene with their debut in 1972 and this is their sophomore release. Marino's Hendrix-influenced style of playing bears such a remarkable similarity to its originator that some critics accused him of being just a Hendrix clone. Others stirred up stories that the spirit of Hendrix had visited Marino or was occupying his body. Of course Marino denied all these false allegations; however, he surely didn't help when he claimed, "The style just came naturally to me. I didn't choose it. It choose me."

From the onset, it's easy to hear the Jimi Hendrix influence. Frank Marino's vocal style, song-writing style, and use of "yeah" and "ah" in "Makin' My Wave" plus his use of delay and echo effects do really make Mahogany Rush sound like a Jimi Hendrix tribute band. But if you listen more, you'll notice that the music is more charged than most of Hendrix's. Perhaps if Hendrix had endured until 1974 this is what he might have sounded like. It's not just Hendrix though. There's late seventies Uli Jon Roth here as well, sometimes sounding like "Polar Nights" or "Hell Cat" from Scorpions "Virgin Killer" album or like Electric Sun's debut "Earthquake". In particular, the title track of that album bears a strong resemblance to Mahogany Rush! And though my Stevie Ray Vaughan listening experience is limited to one album and a couple of singles, I was reminded of Vaughan as well in a few places.

It's best, I would think, to listen to the album a couple of times to get over the whole "It sounds like Jimi" thing and get into the music because this album really rocks and grooves and closer to an Uli Jon Roth kind of way more often than Jimi Hendrix kind of way. It's almost as if Jimi Henrix led to Frank Marino which led to Uli Jon Roth.

Well, I won't deny that you'll find yourself reminded of classic Hendrix songs like "I Don't Live Today", "Third Stone from the Sun", "May This Be Love", "Love or Confusion" or "Crosstown Traffic". And I do believe the title track is about Hendrix himself. "He was a child of the novelty and he took them by surprise / He worked magic, magic before their eyes." But once again, there's an intensity on this album that goes beyond mind expanding psychedelia and gets back to a more visceral approach associated both with rock and roll and hard rock.

For fans of Uli Jon Roth's late seventies output and also fans of Jimi Hendrix, I recommend checking out this album and Mahogany Rush. I'm sure after a few listens you will gain an understanding of how Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush fit in to their own unique style that is both Jimi and Uli and at the same time exactly Mahogany Rush.
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