First, a preamble of sorts, because every good story (even the bad ones) starts with an introduction. I'm hoping this is more like how the Hobbit fit with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and not how the prequel Star Wars movies were fitted into the franchise. Dang, I can see this has already gone off ... I can fix this, hang on.
Let's start at the beginning - I'm at the other record store I like to go to the other day and entering the shop often makes me feel a little bit like King Arthur trying to cross the bridge by answering a series of questions. After a preamble that thankfully didn't involve coconuts and wind speed I'm in and it turned out to be a banner day. I had been listening to T-Bone Burnett and I got a hankering to see if I could find anything by the ever elusive Alpha Band. As Fate would have it I found a decent copy of Spark in the Dark - which was awesome (only took forty years). I also managed to find Queen City Kids second album, which was also awesome, and to add the cherry on top I found a copy of an album I never knew existed: Trouble in Paradise by The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. I have solo albums by J.D. Souther, and Chris Hillman, so I am quite curious.
I go to the counter to pay, and we get to chatting about stuff, and he laughed when he saw the Queen City Kids album, as he was the one who got me to buy their first album. "Told you it was great. Oh, if you liked that you'll love this." He then comes out from behind the counter and rummages through a pile of records.
He emerges with an album by The Karroll Brothers. I flip the cover over and there are three brothers looking very much like 70s rock stars. My first question was, "Are these guys really brothers, or are they like The Ramones, Blotto, or The Elvis Brothers where they aren't really brothers?" He gave a shrug and just said, "Listen and tell me what you think."
Let's see where this goes.
... and here we go, "Need Your Love" opens with KISS chords (if you know, you know - if you don't it'll take a while to explain) but then suddenly there are keyboards and then the vocals come soaring in. Interesting blending of plodding and chunky with melodic keys and a pop feel that would in a year or two be called new wave. Well right out the gate this starts off really strong. Good song.
Oh what the heck is this now? "Battlestar Dream" - okay now the guys are pushing sci-fi prog. Okay, I'll bite ... hold on, I need to pay attention to what they're saying. Yeah, I don't get it. I'll have to listen again. I'm guessing the guys watched The Starlost as kids and wanted to be Devon.
"Morning Light" kind of sounds like a second chapter to "Battlestar Dream" and is okay. Has a decent riff and sounds very 70s. Nothing really got me here (edit, okay so after a few spins I want to change my answer. Still lots of 70s cheese, but the song certainly grew on me).
Ah, more cheese. Weird hearing some of these synth sounds now that were bleeding edge once upon a time. "This Life is for Love" had a good groove the guys certainly liked their chunky hooks. I can actually see this being fun to see live as the syncopated bass and guitar riffs are pretty thick.
Here we go, this is one is gradually building. A slow keyboard drone with a spaghetti western feel backed by a marching snare drum. All it was missing was the whistling wind (you can't hear tumbleweeds, but I imagined them) ... oh here comes the band. We've got prog people. "Space Fighter" is in the house. Man I wish there was a lyric sheet with the album. I wonder if the guys were fans of Captain Beefheart? Lyrically I have no idea what's going on, but it's delivered with conviction. THE INTERGALACTIC SPACE HUNTER! indeed.
... and there's side one. That went by in a hurry. I'm going to have to play this again. First pass through it was the lead off track that seemed to be the one I liked. I also know that I need a few times through to peel the onion (or a parfait if you prefer).
"Taking Your Time" seems to be following the build up pattern of some of the earlier songs. Okay this one has a great hook and the staccato rhythm guitar really propels the song. Decent enough for all that. I think I'm seeing a pattern. The guys weren't verse, chorus, guitar solo, chorus and maybe a bridge. I really like guitar solos, but if they don't have them is it really a mark against them?
Well, there's lots of guitar to start "Can You Feel It" before it settles into a more pop oriented groove. The keyboards are nicely used here. It's kind of cool to actually hear this early melding of electronic and rock as this wasn't all that common. Ah, here we go, guitar solo! I wonder how much these guys were influenced by the first two Prism records? They aren't alike musically, but I wonder if Steven Balison was aware of John Hall? This was easily the most accessible song so far. Really good stuff.
Ooh spacey atmospherics are starting off the album's closing track. "Lovin' You" I'll have to go back and listen to "Battlestar Dream" as these feel like bookends. Yeah, looks like they're going to build up to an opus to bring things to a musical climax (I hope so, I still have musical blue balls from earlier). Oh hear (on purpose) it comes - lead guitar a plenty as the song builds and builds, and there it is the climax. Rather than finish strong the song just rolls over and goes to sleep as the synths come back in and the song almost has an ending, then opts for the fade out. That was, unexpected.
... and we're done. Back in a sec, I'm going to play it again, I need to hear this a couple more times.
Well, that was interesting, and for the most part I did manage to write this is real time. There's a lot to unpack. I know it may not have seemed like it, but I enjoyed this. I went into it totally cold with no idea what to expect. This was released almost forty five years ago and history shows the band didn't achieve a level of success outside of the regional circuit - I had never heard of them. but I'm sure others have. Still, this doesn't mean anything, there are literally thousands of undiscovered gems out there that I have no idea even exist.
I've had a chance to look up the band, and first thing to clear up is they were actual brothers, what's more is they still seem to get along. That's cool, as it seems like a lot of sibling bands don't have good relationships. B.T.O. comes to mind, and Mark and David Knopfler.
What's more impressive is the band financed and released the album on their own label. These guys owned and controlled their own destiny - I'm guessing this was not done on the cheap. I'd love to hear how this was distributed and whether or not it was widely available - it's cool I even managed to get a copy, and here I am after all these years discovering a hidden gem from my own backyard.
It's not exactly clear when the album was released, the jacket says 1978, and the album is stamped 1979. I'm guessing it was recorded in '78 and finally out to the public in 1979. Regardless, for an indie album this doesn't suffer from a bad case of DIY where it sounded like shit - this was a real record! It was an interesting blend of rock and prog with keyboard and synthesizers that were at the cutting edge of what could be done at the time with technology. Still I wish the band had rethought the ending to "Lovin' You" and gone out with a bang instead of a fade.Well, can't change it now.
Okay, as I finish up one of my more meandering entries (that's saying a lot) I have to say that I've played it through a couple of times, and it's grower not a shower.
Apparently they released a follow up album ... well, I'll add that to my list of things to look for.
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