ORANG-UTAN — Orang-Utan (review)

ORANG-UTAN — Orang-Utan album cover Album · 1971 · Proto-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
ORANG-UTAN was one of a number of lesser-known hard rocking outfits to emerge in the British music world in the late 60s combining hard bluesy rock with heavy psych. The band became the refuge for a collection of musicians that formed from the ashes of several dissolving bands that were on the scene in late 60s North London led by ex-Jason Crest co-founder Terry Clarke. The band originally went by the moniker Hunter but was convinced to change their name to ORANG-UTAN and managed to record enough material for this one album released by the Bell Records label.

This eponymous album was only released in the US and not in their native UK. The tale of ORANG-UTAN is a tale of corruption and outright theft. The album was released without their knowledge and the band only later found out by accident that it had actually hit the market. Their producer apparently had the gall to take all the material outside the UK to find a record deal and manufactured the finished product only to release the album without the band’s consent. Due to this miscreancy and the stealing of thunder by much more successful bands in the era, they decided to split up and pursue other endeavors. Only guitarist Mick Clarke and bassist Paul Roberts are still active in the music business to date.

The music is fairly typical of the era. It’s hard to say that ORANG-UTAN sounds like any particular band of the era because they have ingredients that sound like many of their contemporaries. The riffs range from the types heard from Cream, Mountain and even Led Zeppelin. There are dual guitar assaults that bring Wishbone Ash and the Allman Brothers to mind and the overall hard bluesy rock feel can also remind a lot of Free, Leaf Hound or a less heavy Sir Lord Baltimore.

This is one of those albums that isn’t gonna blow you away upon first listen if you’ve heard your share of bluesy rock from the era, however what makes this a touch more interesting than the vast universe of early proto-metal bluesy hard rock is that the compositions are decently constructed, the musicianship is quite developed and the stylistic mix of acid rock and heavier bluesy metal is well played. Terry Clarke’s vocals fit in perfectly for the style as well. This is a great release if you are looking to hear the harder spectrum of rock from the early 70s beyond the heavy hitters of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. While ORANG-UTAN doesn’t quite compete with those behemoth bands, they recorded enough quality material for this release. It is however quite disheartening that the band spent their own money to record in a state of the art studio of the day and have yet to receive even one cent in royalties.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great choice!
Kingcrimsonprog wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Smoke on the water
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Wow! I would never have associated this band with a ring tone. What finally replaced it?
Kingcrimsonprog wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Magic Playground was my ringtone for about three years :)

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed