Atomic Rooster - Atomic Rooster (Remastered and Expanded)

When The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown came to an end in 1969, two members of the final lineup, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer, decided to form a new band and Atomic Rooster was born.  Rounded out by Nick Graham on bass, they recorded their debut album before both Graham and Palmer left the band.  Over the ensuing years and a multitude of member changes (including expanding to a four-piece at one point), they released five albums, with Crane the only consistent member, before calling it a day in 1975.  Fast forward to 1980 when Crane and John Du Cann, who had been in the band on guitar and vocals from 1970 to 1971, decided to give the band another go with session musician Preston Heyman, who left the band after recording the album.  The resulting release was the self-titled Atomic Rooster (not to be confused with their debut Atomic Roooster), which has now been remastered and reissued in this new edition that also includes eleven bonus tracks, and a second disc recorded live at the Marquee Club in 1980.   

While their last two releases before the breakup had more of a soul influence, this album found them shifting back in a hard rock and prog direction, taking influences from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal that was hot at the time, along with some elements of punk (Du Cann's vocals were notably different here with more of a punk snarl). The album starts strongly with "They Took Control Of You", which opens with screeching guitars and is a powerful, all-out rocker that's musically very reminiscent of Deep Purple (especially thanks to Crane's organ work), but with a touch of punk.  "She's My Woman" and "He Did It Again" are a couple of muscular rockers, the latter of which has more emphasis on the organ, giving it a bit more of a prog element with hints of Argent. While not totally punk, "Where's The Show?" really shows their punkier side.  At almost seven minutes, "In The Shadows" is a very organ driven track that is dark and a little evil sounding and in more of a prog direction.  The punk influence shows up once again on "Do You know Who's Looking For You," a track that is more aggressive but still with plenty of keys.  "Don't Lose Your Mind" has more of a classic rock sound that is reminiscent of the band's early days.  Instrumental "Watch Out!" is a solid prog instrumental that at times brings to mind Yes, although it's a bit faster at times.   ”I Can’t Stand It” is a fun rocker with a punky attitude that’s kind of upbeat with sprightly keys giving it a bit of a bounce, and closer “Lost In Space” is another more prog influenced track.  Rounding out the first disc are eleven bonus tracks starting off with “Throw Your Life Away” (originally released as a b-side), a high energy track that really showcases Du Cann’s guitar work and has more of his old school vocals, and “Broken Windows,” an unreleased, hard-driving rocker that was possibly initially recorded as a b-side.  Next up are four demos of songs that ended up on the album and four more that were recorded for a potential follow-up album before Du Cann left the band again.  They include the muscular rock of “End Of The Day” (released a year later as a single by a different incarnation of the band) and “Play It Again,” and the bluesy, soulful “Hold It Through The Night.”  The final bonus track is the short instrumental “Moonrise”, that is just listed as “last recording 1981.”

As was mentioned earlier, after the album was recorded, Heyman left the band and was replaced for a very short time by Ginger Baker followed by the return of Paul Hammond.  At this point the band was back to the lineup that recorded their sophomore album Death Walks Behind You.  This is who played in 1980 at The Marquee in London, which is documented here on disc two.  It was originally recorded on cassette on a single onstage microphone, so it definitely has that bootleg feel, but considering how it was recorded, it sounds extremely good and really puts you right in the middle of the action.  The band sounds really tight and the performance is strong, which is even more impressive since they hadn't been back together that long.  Along with four songs from the Atomic Rooster album, there are five from Death Walks Behind You along with "Devil's Answer," which had been released as a single back in 1971. These earlier cuts tend to be a little heavier than they were originally, putting them more in line with the rest of the set.  This disc is a great addition to this release that shows where the band was at that time.     

(Esoteric Recordings)