#rodger bain

[nofatclips]

Hand of Doom by Black Sabbath from the album Paranoid

[gregorygalloway]

Judas Priest's debut album was released on 6 September 1974.

Produced by Rodger Bain (who had produced Black Sabbath's first 3 albums), Rocka Rolla was recorded live in the studio, which captured the band's live sound, but also included obvious technical problems as well.

Rocka Rolla failed to find an audience, selling fewer than a few thousand copies, and left the band in a desperate financial situation. Judas Priest struggled for the next 3 years, resulting in their losing the rights to their first 2 albums (and all their recordings from that time).

[vinylspinning]

Budgie: Budgie (1971)

One of heavy metal’s most beloved yet long-underrated charter bands, Budgie, released their eponymous debut album this month in 1971, meaning there’s a half-century’s worth of stories we might talk about -- both lucky breaks and blown opportunities that ultimately, thankfully, led to redemption.

But don’t worry ... I ain’t got all day and neither do you, so let’s just focus on how it all began, OK?

In the wake of Black Sabbath’s totally unexpected success peddling that demonic racket called heavy metal, their producer, Rodger Bain, was given carte blanche to go find other, exciting young bands he might be able to groom into the new decade’s next breakout stars.

So he set his sights on Budgie: a hitherto unknown power trio from, of all places, Cardiff, Wales, formed way back in 1967 as Six Ton Budgie, and comprised of vocalist/bassist Burke Shelley, guitarist Tony Bourge, and drummer Ray Phillips.

Just like Sabbath, Budgie employed volume and distortion to mold the blues’ raw clay into simultaneously beautiful and terrifying new shapes, but they would also prove artfully malleable and idiosyncratic over time, blending metal with progressive rock and perhaps the rarest emotion in rock: a sense of humor.

All of these traits were evident, to some degree, on the group’s first single “Crash Course in Brain Surgery,” which didn’t even chart upon release, but would invade millions of households around the globe 16 years later when Metallica covered it for their wildly popular $5.98 E.P. 

But, back in ‘71, those who picked up a copy of Budgie’s album found other practical jokers like “Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman” and “Rape of the Locks” (beware the barber!) making wisecracks at the pub to brow-beating bruisers such as “Guts” and “All Night Petrol,” while soft-spoken acoustic intervals like “Everything in My Heart” and “You and I” whispered sweet nothings to the ladies.

Another track, “The Author,” dropped further hints of the band’s looming prog-rock ambitions, but finesse would have to wait; for now, Budgie were far too busy hammering monstrous riffs into submission on the album’s most hypnotic and foreboding standout “Homicidal Suicidal” -- a driving doom cornerstone later covered by Soundgarden, among others.

So, while I wouldn’t call Budgie’s first work a proper classic (the young band were still just coming to grips with their musical abilities and songwriting interests), this was such an important addition to the early heavy metal canon that no self-respecting metal-head can really do without it.

But know that the following year’s Squawk (also produced by Bain, who would go on to work with Judas Priest) made immediate improvements to all of the rough-hewn elements of the unique Budgie formula, without compromising either their powerful sound or lovable attributes.

p.s. -- Since I celebrated producer Martin Birch in yesterday’s post about Blue Öyster Cult, I’ll do the same for the nearly-as-legendary, and thankfully still living, Rodger Bain for his crucial contributions to my favorite kind of music.

p.p.s. -- Some of these words evolved from a Loudwire project showcasing some obscure heavy metal bands and songs of the early ‘70s, bravely signed off on by editor Brian Ives, so a warm thank you and shout-out to him!

More Budgie: Squawk, Never Turn Your Back on a Friend, In for the Kill, Bandolier, If I Were Brittania I’d Waive the Rules, Impeckable, If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting EP, Live in Los Angeles 1978.

[myrecordcollections]

Visit Original Link

I’ve never seen this album on cd, tho’ I do have it on vinyl. Tho it’s not perfect,BATTLE HYMN is definitely a hard rock album worth seeking out. WILD TURKEY featured ex- JETHRO TULL bassist GLEN CORNICK, who also plays keyboards and writes about four of the songs. The album was produced by RODGER BAIN, who produced the first three BLACK SABBATH albums,along with the first JUDAS PRIEST album ROCKA ROLLA, so it’s no surprise that the production is very similar to those albums, albeit a little softer.WILD TURKEY were definitely not as heavy as SABBATH or PRIEST.The sound is definitely very 70s. My favorite songs in- clude the very heavy BUTTERFLY, which opens the album and THE SENTINEL, a very heavy rocker that closes the album. Also worth listening to is DULWICH FOX,a nice little acoustic guitar song with some very pleasant vocal harmonies. The rest of this is standard progressive hard rock, with some very good guitar play- ing and some very nice singing from GARY PICKFORD-HOPKINS, who would go on to sing with RICK WAKEMAN. A good album!

[rainingmusic]

Black Sabbath - A bit of finger / Sleeping Village / Warning

[vinylspinning]

Wild Turkey: Battle Hymn (1971)

A little late for Thanksgiving, but with plenty of leftover turkey in everyone’s fridge, this is as good a time as any to recount the story of English progressive rockers Wild Turkey: a rather promising proposition 50 years ago that, today, is only vaguely remembered for its ties to Jethro Tull. 

Having played on Tull’s first three LPs (‘68’s This Was, ‘69’s Stand Up and ‘70’s Benefit), bassist Glenn Cornick (1947-2014) was suddenly feeling the squeeze from band leader Ian Anderson, who wanted his school chum Jeffrey Hammond in the group, forcing Cornick to strike out on his own.

So he formed Wild Turkey with singer Gary Pickford-Hopkins, lead guitarist Alan ‘Tweke’ Lewis, rhythm guitarist Jon Blackmore (no relation to Ritchie), and drummer Jeff Jones, who proceeded to pool their songwriting talents after moving into a communal farmhouse (of course they did).

1971’s not-quite-fully-conceptual, but certainly war-obsessed Battle Hymn, was the result, and fans of all things early prog and proto-metal will feel their pulse quicken when they see producer Rodger Bain (Black Sabbath, Budgie, etc.) and engineer Tom Allom (Judas Priest, etc.) credited on the sleeve.

The duo promptly puts their stamp on urgent, riff-powered rockers like “Butterfly,” “Twelve Streets of Cobbled Black,” “Easter Psalm” and “One Sole Survivor,” where Pickford-Hopkins’ gruff melodies actually remind me of Budgie’s Burke Shelley ... minus the screaming.

But before you get too excited, know that Wild Turkey also harbored some folk scene castaways within their ranks, and this is evident in the quieter acoustics, harmonized vocals, and evocative lyrics found on “Dulwich Fox,” “Gentle Rain,” and the very Tull-like “To the Stars.” 

And the album’s second half is where Wild Turkey really digs into those war themes (as I said earlier, this is maybe “half a concept album”), with a clutch of eloquent, pointed indictments against the atrocities of armed conflict in “Sanctuary,” “Sentinel,” and the especially bitter title track. 

This show of both maturity and quality musicianship was enough to earn Wild Turkey a small but dedicated following amongst free spirits and eccentrics such as future Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who went out of his way to sing Battle Hymn’s praises in an autobiography where music generally takes a backseat to fencing and flying.

But the populace at large seemed to be perfectly satisfied with small helpings of this musical feast, and neither Chrysalis (their U.K. label) nor Reprise Records (in the U.S.) were able to turn Wild Turkey into a mainstream ritual, but now I’m getting silly ...

Personally, I feel that Battle Hymn has aged pretty well and can still seduce prog-rock fans who give it a reasonable number of spins; but it can’t compete with the mighty Jethro Tull, nor even their more famous offshoot, Blodwyn Pig, at their best.

Wild Turkey would deliver a sophomore album called simply Turkey in ‘72 (watch this space next year!), before going their separate ways, but Cornick organized a few partial reunions to record new albums in the ‘90s and ‘00s, amid other projects like German proggies Kathargo and Bob Welch’s Paris.

More Glenn Cornick: Wild Turkey’s Turkey; Jethro Tull’s Stand Up, Benefit; Paris’ Paris, Big Towne, 2061.

[gregorygalloway]

Black Sabbath’s debut album was released on Friday the 13th, 1970 in the UK (released in the US on 1 June 1970).

Produced by Rodger Bain, the album was recorded in a single 12-hour day (”then off we went the next day to play for £20 in Switzerland,” Tony Iommi recalled). Despite poor reviews (Lester Bangs  wrote that it was “just like Cream! But worse"), the album quickly entered the charts, peaking at #8 in the UK and peaking at #23 in the US (it stayed on the US charts for more than a year, selling more than 1 millions copies).

[vinylspinning]

Dirty Tricks: Dirty Tricks (1975)

Best described as a “meat ‘n’ potatoes” hard rock band, England’s Dirty Tricks joined fellow mid ‘70s upstarts like Liverpool’s Nutz, Toronto’s Moxy and Rochester, NY’s Black Sheep in attempting to emulate the sound and resulting success of Bad Company (and Free, before them).

Formed in 1974, the quartet was swiftly signed to Polydor and paired with pioneering metal producer Rodger Bain (Black Sabbath, Budgie, Judas Priest) on this eponymous debut, which favored bare-bones simplicity over progressive aspirations, and spartan sonics over grand scale productions.

Sign me up!

As such, riff-mongering muthas like “Wait Till Saturday,” the doomy “Back off Evil” and “Too Much Wine,” though a tad long for radio airplay (each tops the five-minute mark), definitely benefitted from Bain’s patented and always raw heavy metal thunder.

Other cuts like “Sunshine Day,” “Call Me Up for Love” (shades of Mott here) and “Marcella” balance out the power chords with enough hooks that may have even attracted a female fan or two, among the hordes of male meat-heads already lining up for tickets.

But, on the downside, “If You Believe in Me” is a sore-thumb of an acoustic ballad and a colossal, sappy failure, at that; while the slow-grinding blues of “High Life” (very good, but it’s no “Mistreated”) has a head-scratching knack for stating the obvious: “I like the high life ... and so should you.”

No shit, Sherlock!

Alas, Dirty Tricks would never really enjoy said high life, striking out almost completely in the U.S.A. (except in San Antonio, TX, home to the nation’s most committed hard rock radio station), and faring not much better back in the U.K., despite surviving for two more long-players beyond this underrated debut.

More Dirty Tricks: Night Man, Hit & Run.