QUARTZ — Quartz (review)

Album · 1977 · NWoBHM

3.5/5 · 2020-07-05
voila_la_scorie

Often cited as being the first album released in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, that notion does have strong historical backing. One of the new British heavy rock bands among many who formed in the mid-seventies, Quartz was fortunate enough to get into a recording studio and pull off a piece of vinyl while many bands were still touring their local circuits. Strangely, it would be three years before their sophomore release, and by then the dam had already burst.

But there's something to note about this album that distinguishes it from many of the acts who wouldn't hit record store shelves until 1980 and onward. One main difference between this album and debuts by the likes of Tank, Tigers of Pan Tang, and Raven is that Quartz were still showing strong prog connections in their music while a lot of other bands had tapped into the punk scene by the time their debuts came round. Quite simply, in spite of the album being the at the vanguard of the NWoBHM, it's still a product of 1977.

The first track, "Mainline Riders" is heavy and blissful to listen to. I hear a slight similarity to Scorpions in the music, but more like the early Matthias Jabs albums. Still, a great heavy metal song in a year where hard rock still dominated most of the heavy guitar rock releases.

But then "Sugar Rain" brings something that reminds me Yes meets Jethro Tull. A decent enough track but evidence that this album's music was developed before punk really took over.

"Street Fighting Lady" sounds to me like a cross between Ted Nugent and Triumph. Perhaps the latter comes to mind because they had a song around the same time called "Street Fighting Man". Maybe the two characters knew each other.

"Hustler" once again reminds me of Scorpions though this time the Uli Jon Roth era, at least during the opening. The verses are more typical of 1977 hard rock, thinking of Thin Lizzy for example.

"Devil's Brew" has a cool, simple and heavy riff to it and at first it's easy to think of Black Sabbath or Angel Witch. But those keyboards and tempo changes are closer to Uriah Heep. Cool lyrics: "When the dead no longer dead begin to rise" and "In the fires that are burning / Give the living back to me". Now I'm thinking of the contemporary American hard rock outfit, Sorcery.

"Smokie" is a short acoustic guitar instrumental, and then we're on to "Around and Around". This has a cool blend of UJR Scorpions at the intro, Sweet chorus vocals and guitar riffs around the chorus, a Uriah Heep part that then leads into a proggy section that reminds me of something you'd hear from Genesis around this year before it gets heavier and sounds more like something from a NWoBHM album. Along with "Mainline Riders", this is one of my two favorite tracks.

"Pleasure Seekers" is a great hard rocker with a heavy riff. To me, this is one of those 1976-8 songs that indicate a new direction for heavy rock music. Alright, count this as a third favourite track.

The album closes with "Little Old Lady" and I swear someone asked Roger Daltrey to sing the opening. This song sounds like it's going to be a weak one but does have some redeeming moments. The lyrical theme, I'm guessing, addresses the writer's grandmother in her old age. It has a Queen feel to the music, alternating between softer acoustic and electric guitars and a hard rock riff for the chorus.

My conclusion? This album reminds me of several different groups which means that there's a lot of diversity in the music. For that, I think it's a very good album to listen to from time to time. It's not one that I'll just shelve and forget about. As an example of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, I'll say again that it's not derived from exactly the same influences as bands dropping albums three or four years later. However, if we are looking for music that is a departure from the standard hard rock acts of 1976-78 (Thin Lizzy, UFO, Sweet, Nazareth, etc.) I think Quartz were beginning to steer things in a new direction, albeit in a way that their German counterparts, Scorpions, were also doing around this time.