by Mott the Dog
5
Stars *****
In 1969 keyboard wizard Vincent Crane and drumming
sensation Carl Palmer left mid tour of The Crazy World of Arthur
Brown’s debut American tour citing irreparable differences with the
man himself, Arthur Brown, not perhaps the most thought through idea in
Rock ‘n’ Roll, but sometimes a musician has to do what a musician
does.
Upon arrival back in England it was decided to put a
band together around these two musicians; like-minded talents were then
sought after, Brian Jones who had just left the Stones was due for a
meeting with Vincent Crane the day before he was found drowned in a
swimming pool; Rich Gretch was asked but had already hung his star to
new super group “Blind Faith” with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and
Ginger Baker; Jack Bruce was asked as well but was determined to forge
out a solo career, and when Bruce turned down the bass position John
Paul Jones was singled out, but he was already in another heavy metal
flyer called Led Zeppelin. But all these names do let your mind wander
into all the different possibilities that could have happened.
The newly branded Atomic Rooster was rolled out with
its debut album ‘Atomic Rooster’ (1969) with the relatively unknown
Nick Graham completing the trio on bass. The album met with great
critical praise but little commercial success. The album is a bluesy
affair with not much notice of the heavy rock carnage that was to come.
Nick Graham promptly left, and Atomic Rooster never employed a bass
player at any time in their following career, Vincent Crane preferring
to play the bass notes on his Hammond organ rather than trust another
fickle bass man. Followed by Carl Palmer who was lured away to be the
“P” in another super group, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
New recruits were sought and two new Roosters were
found: John Ducann, on lead guitar, who brought along young skinsman
Paul Hammond. Immediate success was to follow with the Rooster taking on
the hard heavy metal of the day. In November of 1970 this trio’s first
album was released “Death Walks Behind You” with its ground breaking
Hammond organ sound from Vincent Crane, guitar thunder from Ducann, and
powerhouse drumming from Paul Hammond. Further progress was made when
the song ‘Tomorrow Night’ was plucked from the album as a single and
reached the Top Ten. 1971 was to prove to be Rooster’s year, when they
were right at the front of the heavy metal boom, alongside such
luminaries as Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. A follow up single
‘Devil’s Answer’ was released and met with even greater success,
reaching Number Two.
Whilst in the studio recording this album it was
decided to expand the line-up to four with the addition of a vocalist,
and the services of ex-Cactus lead singer Peter French were employed, an
excellent choice. French’s vocals were laid down so late in the day
the artwork for the album had already been done, so his head had to be
painted onto the inside artwork at the last minute.
The album “In The Hearing Of” was released in
September 1971 and went straight into the Top Twenty. The music is not
quite as heavy as that of its predecessor, but that does not mean it has
lost any of its aggression or grit. Vincent Crane’s Hammond organ is
not so much in evidence with the piano being used to great effect on a
lot of the songs. This is spelled out right from moment go when the
Rooster strut their stuff on opener ‘Breakthrough’, with Cranes
hammering piano dominating the song as it pushes its way into your
subconscious.
‘Breakthrough’ is the perfect opener for this
finely selected collection of hard rockin’ classics. Of the nine songs
on this album (Hit Single ‘Devils Answer’ has been tacked on the end
of the original eight album tracks as a welcome bonus) two are
instrumentals, only five are sung by new vocalist Pete French, Vincent
Crane takes lead vocals on the dark and broody ‘Black Snake’, whilst
‘Devil’s Answer’ features the vocals of John Ducann, having been
recorded before Pete French’s arrival.
Six songs were written by Vincent Crane, three by
John Ducann. One song, ‘Decision/Indecision’, does not even require
the services of Ducann’s guitar work, with Crane supporting French’s
emotional vocals on solitary piano, a haunting piece to be sure.
Pete French gives a great display as a vocalist on
his limited opportunities, but it is perhaps the two rockin’
instrumentals, ‘A Spoonful Of Bromide Helps The Pulse Rate Go Down’
and ‘The Rock’ that would have most pleased the fans from the
previous album. It is the only time during the album that both Vincent
Crane and John Ducann actually let go and give it some clout.
‘In The Hearing Of’ was a great follow up to
‘Death Walks Behind You’. Great development is shown in all parts of
the band, but obviously too much development, as each individual wishes
to stamp his mark, as is easily seen by the development of each track on
this album.
With Vincent Crane insisting upon sole leadership of
the band, and his exacting standards, this proved too much for the other
musicians in the band and before the end of the year the band had
splintered. This left Vincent Crane to keep the Atomic Rooster flag
flying, which he did with diminishing results over two more albums
‘Made In England’ (1972) and ‘Nice ‘n’ Greasy’ (1973). Both
of these albums departed from the Hard Rock of yore, taking a very
different Funk/Rock slant with vocalist Chris Farlowe on board, much to
the horror of Rooster hard rock fans.
Pete French went off and formed Leafhound who
recorded ‘Grower of Mushrooms’ (1972). Pete French was never to get
the success his vocal talents clearly deserved. John Ducann and Paul
Hammond stayed with their hard rock roots and formed ‘Bullet’, who
changed their name to ‘Hard Stuff’, with John Gustafason on bass and
vocals, recording two impressive albums for Deep Purple’s newly formed
own record label under the Hard Stuff banner ‘Bulletproof’ (1972)
and ‘Bolex Demention’ (1973). Heavy Rock’s waning popularity put
paid to any lasting hopes of Rock immortality, though.
In 1980 when Hard Rock made a major comeback The
Rooster of ‘Death Walks Behind You’ fame reunited for another stab
at glory, but their day had gone.
The name ‘Atomic Rooster’ still garners great
respect in hard rock circles, but it was really only ‘Death Walks
Behind You’ and ‘In The Hearing Of’ that were the real thing. The
reformation live album from the Marquee (1980), where funnily enough it
is John Ducann’s vocals and guitar that are the most dominant, is
worth your pleasure if you have an inkling to listen to the live beast.
But anything else with the Rooster badge on it is generally advised to
be given a wide berth.
The world of Rock ‘n’ Roll is not an easy or kind
one. Vincent Crane, unable to control his inner demons any longer, took
his own life on Valentine’s Day 1989. He was sadly followed by Paul
Hammond who could not cope with life outside of his beloved Rooster in
1991. A tragic end to a band that could have been huge, one of the
biggest. But they did leave behind two marvellous albums as an epitaph.
Atomic Rooster
Vincent Crane: Piano, Hammond Organ, and Vocals
John Ducann: Guitars, and Vocals
Paul Hammond: Drums
Pete French: Vocals
Songs
Breakthrough
Break The Ice
Decision/Indecision
A Spoonful Of Bromide Helps The Pulse Rate Go Down
Black Snake
Head In The Sky
The Rock
The Price
Bonus Track; Devil’s Answer
The
immensely popular Adrian Mole diaries continue with Adrian Mole and the
Weapons of Mass Destruction (ISBN 0-141-02177-2), published by Penguin
Books in soft cover this year. Written by Sue Townsend, one of the UK’s
most prolific authors, with now seven Adrian Mole diaries, plus other very
well accepted books such as The Public Confessions of a Middle Aged Woman
(Aged 55 3/4) and Number Ten, this latest Adrian Mole is a non-skimpy 460
pager.
Mott’s CD review: Atomic Rooster - In The Hearing Of