The band's defining album - a wide-ranging effort which blends the communal soul of the previous album with country-rock and heavy rock of the epic variety - and epic might be an understatement. Everything I said about the previous album, multiply that by ten-fold and apply it to this one. Two future genres directly affected by it were Goth and Metal - the overall dark mood applies to the former and Metal, well, there is the matter of a track which Judas Priest later covered called "Better By You, Better than Me". What is even more attractive is the overall group dynamic, which a hundred other writers could describe better than I can. It is simply astounding how each player in the band pushes the limit and beyond, yet never really blows outside of their role in the band. The first few songs are a Woodstock wet dream come to life, filled with gospel harmonies, aching vocals from Wright and Harrison, pastoral piano playing, echoing drum patterns, to the point where you expect the weed smoke to ooze out of your speakers at any moment. But then things take a dramatic left turn with "Evil Woman", one of the most stunning rock recordings ever cut, in terms of a) being able to pull off extreme histrionics without shriveling from complete embarrassment, and b) making it sound completely amazing instead. "Evil Woman" is what I remember Gary Wright for, not ridiculous sap like "Dream Weaver" and "My Love is Alive", although, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off without massive contributions from the rest of the band, either. The Grosvenor guitar solo, about half way through, is a work of insane majesty, which really sets the tone for Wright and Harrison to finish the thing off in major, hair-raising style, and they do just that. The drama really does not let up from there, although, the listener might look up with a suspicious eye now and then. "Lost In My Dream" really attempts to push the fantasy envelope, for example, and therefore, is harder to take at face value upon initial listens. But the musicianship and craft displayed on "That Was Only Yesterday" and "Better By You, Better Than Me" is hard to argue, especially on the latter tune, which had to be the most progressive thing the group had even put out to that point and time, chock full of studio tricks-a-plenty. Finally, "Hangman Hang my Shell on a Tree" brings us back full circle to the start of the album, to communal soul and gospel, but with a dirty, depressing, and suicidal-obsessed twist. I'm not sure if this happened during or right after the album was recorded, but Greg Ridley exited the band for Humble Pie which was a big loss, and then another big mistake was made which would compound it. For now, this is Spooky Tooth's unquestioned peak, bar none.

Before there was such a thing as Spooky Tooth, there was Art, which grew out of a British Mod-era group called The V.I.P’s (who, once upon a time, counted among their members a keyboard player named Keith Emerson), who were at the crossroads of some important happenings but never seemed to get anywhere in particular. The few things that set Art apart from Spooky Tooth are as follows – 1) no Gary Wright, 2) a pronounced garage-rock vibe, and 3) a noticeable lack of direction. The collected players have loads of individual talent, and parts of this can be entertaining, but ultimately their off-the-cuff take on psychedelia can only take them so far.

One the things I find fascinating about British blues rock of the 60s and 70s – and by extension, the heavy metal sub-genre – is the hard-scrabble environment which the vast majority of the bands came out of. Unlike America, where at least there was some semblance of hope around the corner – however fleeting the thoughts were – in the UK they were dealing with the absolute dregs and leftovers from the Industrial Revolution. By the mid-1970’s Judas Priest (name taken from a Bob Dylan song on the John Wesley Harding album) had been through the ringer - through countless lineups, a debut album, and while working on the second album they were desperate enough to subsist on one meal a day. What they recorded and eventually released as their second album may not even compare to their future output, in many departments, but it does stand as an interesting landmark for a number of reasons. First of all, this is the record which establishes the Judas Priest as everyone knows them – maybe not the complete image, but certainly the technical style and execution. I am not really convinced that JP were all that original for the metal genre, except in one aspect – they took what came before them and made it more extreme and dangerous. The two big factors here are Rob Halford’s vocals and twin-guitar interplay between K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton. Regarding Halford, it seems like overdubs or related tricks are used here and there in specific spots to accentuate his effect on the whole proceedings, especially on “The Ripper”, and I guess you can’t blame production for this. The guitar interplay fits into the overall scope of the sound – most everything is dramatic, but I’m not sure I would say it’s over driven, either. And it’s not like I can really remember specific solos sticking out or anything like that. There are meticulous details they get right, though, like the spiraling guitar section that leads into the “gong” midsection on “The Ripper”, which all sounds strangely out of tune, but just devilishly perfect. So, my favorite tracks are the first two – “Victim of Changes” and “The Ripper”. They get so many twists and turns and details and well – damn near everything on these two tracks go how it should go to a freakin’ tee – plus I can listen to them non-stop and never get bored. After that, it’s good, but not as dead-on as those two songs, so the album loses some luster. The whole “Dreamer Deceiver”/”Deceiver” bit is really hit and miss for me – at times I feel like they could break out into a “Planet Caravan” cover, then a Joni Mitchell tribute, then Rob Halford screaming at me for catharsis – but the “Deceiver” bit does rock for the little section of time that it is on. The piano interludes (“Prelude”, “Epitaph”) are just strange, still feel like they are a slight bit out of place after all of these years. This leaves us with three relatively standard rockers (“Tyrant”, “Genocide”, “Island of Domination”) which, in general, I do not feel are as well-developed as the first two tracks. Of the three, “Genocide” works best, and the spoken-word midsection would provide the band with the title of its’ next album – Sin after Sin. I still think the first side of this record is way better than the second side, just from a pure finished songs standpoint. So, in the end, a fairly interesting, if somewhat spotty document, which in the very least established the group as a force to be reckoned with.

Crowbar changed their approach somewhat, transitioning from the 50's inspired barrel house boogie of the previous album to heavier, more progressive, and R&B sounds for Heavy Duty. But in the process, they lose a lot of what made them unique in the first place. "Trilby" is a promising start, but from then on in Kelly Jay and his crew meander in search of something tangible and not entirely getting it. Ultimately, a spotty follow-up that has its moments.

I expected to hear a decline going by the few mainstream reviews I had read in advance, but from a number of angles this is an uptick from Walsh's previous 80's output, so I am not sure what the critics were thinking. Produced by long time ZZ Top associate Terry Manning (and recorded in Memphis), Got Any Gum strikes a fairly nice balance between arena rock, sparky humor, and more substantial material. Helping out is his old Barnstorm mate Joe Vitale, along with bass player Rick Rosas. "The Radio Song" and "In My Car" were hits on rock radio stations, but the good stuff comes about midway through the record. "Mailbu" is notable thanks to an extended rush of excellent Walsh soloing, followed by "Half the Time", which is marked by lots of traditional Walsh irreverence. The second half standout has to be "No Peace in the Jungle", a very mysterious track which would fit in perfectly back in the Barnstorm days. Deceptively titled to make you think it's a toss-off, this is a surprisingly strong effort and probably deserved more attention than it actually received at the time.