PROG RELATED

1. Immigrant Song (2:25) : On this opener (still )no signs of another musical direction, what an exciting rock and roll atmosphere featuring a thunderous guitar riff and a steamy rhythm-section, topped by excellent vocals.

2. Friends (3:54) : A folky atmosphere with catchy acoustic guitars, Bonham delivers assorted percusson, Plant warm vocals and JP Jones surprises with captivating strings arrangements. The sultry atmosphere reminds me of their classic Kashmir, also oriental sounding.

3. Celebration Day (3:29) : Heavy rock and roll , coloured by fiery slide guitar, Page impresses again!

4. Since I've Been Loving You (7:23) : One of their best tracks ever! It starts with sensitive bluesy guitar and mellow Hammond organ (evoking Ten Years After), then a great build up featuring howling guitar runs, emotional vocals, the climax delivers an moving guitar solo, awesome drums and Plant in its full splendor.

5. Out On The Tiles (4:07) : Another strong Jimmy Page catchy and heavy guitar riff, with powerful vocals and a propulsive rhythm-section, this is trademark Led Zeppelin.

6. Gallows Pole (4:56) : An example of the 'new Led Zep' with exciting propulsive acoustic rhythm guitar and powerful bluesy vocals.

7. Tangerine (3:10) : What a beautiful ballad featuring warm acoustic rhythm guitar, tender vocals, halfway howling electric guitar runs and then the distinctive steel guitar.

8. That's The Way (5:37) : Another fine example of the 'new Led Zep' with dreamy acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals, accompanied by the versatile JP Jones on mandolin, a wonderful folky atmosphere.

9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp (4:16) : A favourite of mine, I am delighted about my guitar hero Jimmy Page on the acoustic guitar (reminding me of the underrated acoustic virtuoso Rory Gallagher). Also a great vocal performance and subtle percussion contribution by drummer John Bonham.

10. Hats Off To (Roy) Harper (3:42) : This song is a tribute to the Old School blues with fat slide guitar, inspired vocals and a hiss in the sound that coloures the music like a kind of sound collage, very special.

How impressive that a band can deliver such a high quality variety, from the heavy Immigrant Song and Out On The Tiles to the the compelling bluesy Since I've Been Loving You and folky Tangerine and Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp. A big hand for Led Zeppelin!

It Don't Bother Me is by no means a bad album, it just doesn't improve on Jansch's debut. That would come pass on Jansch's third solo offering coming up quickly titled Jack Orion and, off course, with the debut album of the Pentangle that followed close behind. 3 stars.

The Castle remaster sports the best sound ever heard for this recording and is, as usual, graced with detailed liner notes by noted Jansch biographer Colin Harper and also sports some never before seen pics of our heroes. If you've run out of early Pentangle albums to savor, then this disc is the place to fill that void. 5 Stars.

It's easy to place Bert Jansch's and his Pentangle partner John Renbourn's early solo albums as a type of addendum to their Pentangle canon. A type of unofficial 'immersion' material, if you will, as many of the 'folk baroque' trademarks that the duo pioneered presage the trademark Pentangle sound as well as posting a crossover of solo songs onto later Pentangle albums where fans can track their development.

However, Jansch's first solo album, while being hailed as a British folk rock icon, goes well beyond that. To put it simply, beyond it's ground breaking fill of self penned songs and dexterous guitar instrumentals, the music and voice of the man soars to a height that Jansch rarely bettered in his entire recorded lifetime. That's mainly because Jansch was so well versed in this material, probably for years, before they were immortalized in black vinyl. When the album starts with the bucolic 'Strolling Down The Highway' not only is this beautiful song sung pitch perfect, but every slight and secondary guitar note was meticulously thought out and accompanies the song's dominant chords and melodies in a way that makes the music always sound so much more than just a man recorded with a single acoustic guitar. Jansch's oft celebrated song for a passed friend 'Needle of Death' with it's heart tugging lyric seems to have all the sweep and grandeur of an orchestra that simply isn't there. But Jansch makes you think it, feel it and believe it. And this, along with his definitive ligatos, pull offs, slurs, string pulls and all other tricks that are hard to define by his slight of playing hand , as on the Davy Graham instrumental standard 'Angi', not only made Jansch a musician's musician, it put him into a category of British folk artist that was heretofore unknown.

But again, aside form the accolades of Jansch's solo debut, it's the music that delivers more than 50 years since it was first recorded. And with that, it really deserves more accolades than just being an addendum to a folk rock super group. 4.5 stars rounded up 5.

Around the year 1974 David Bowie had a certain connection with The Netherlands: the Diamond Dogs album cover was painted by Dutch artist Guy Peellaert, he did the final mix of Diamond Dogs with Tony Visconti in Hilversum, he attended a press reception and later the Edison Awards with his girlfriend Angie in Amsterdam and, last but not least, he performed his new single Rebel Rebel in the Dutch tv pop music program Toppop. How sensational, with his androgyn lookes, platform shoes, red hair and playbacking on a red Fender Stratocaster guitar. But the most remarkable was the eyepatch he was wearing, picked up in the studio (Bowie was also a genius in media attention), that video clip (with caleidoscope images) went all over the world!

On the Internet I read: 'Rebel Rebel was written for a never-realized Ziggy Stardust musical and reportedly inspired by New York transsexual and actor Wayne County, who was part of Bowie's entourage at the time.'

Wow, that guitar riff from Bowie himself (not Mick Ronson who left Bowie for a solo carreer in 1973), this one belongs in the category 'legendary', like the riffs in Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple and Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. And by playing it over and over it turns into the heartbeat of the song, very pulsating and hypnotizing. And how about the tight rhythm-section, featuring the experienced Herbie Flowers (T-Rex, Sky) and Aynsley Dunbar (Zappa, Journey). All topped by David Bowie his distinctive vocals, singing about a girl who is testing the borders in a heavy way, perhaps a mirror Bowie is looking in, a metaphor for his own experiences and behaviour? Anyway, Rebel Rebel became an iconic glamrock song but one year later the musical chameleon Bowie presented the funky hit Fame, dressed like on the catwalk, goodbey rock and roll!

2. Queen Bitch ' 3:13

An inspired tribute to the Velvet Underground featuring an exciting blend of acoustic rhythm guitar and the 'dirty' electric guitar by the late and great Mick Ronson ('My own Jeff Beck' Bowie stated once), and strong vocals by Bowie. He easily evokes composer Lou Reed his unique voice, yes, what an outstanding musical chameleon David Bowie was! The US and Canadian version of this single had Lady Grinning Soul as the B-side, I presume due to the fact that the title Queen Bitch was too provocative for the Moral Majority.

During my first listening session I concluded very quickly: what an exciting and varied album featuring mindblowing work on the Hammond organ and Grand piano! As a huge fan of the very distinctive Hammond I was blown away by Don Airey, he let his Hammond moan and groan and scream during swirling solos in Ripples In The Fabric Of Time, Space Troll Patrol, Endless Night and A Light In The Sky Pt.2. But also a big hand for his vituosic work on the Grand piano like in Love You Too Much (wonderful ballad with warm vocals), Sombrero M104 (sparkling with flamenco hints), Into Orbit (swirling duet with a violin) and the strongly build-up final song Lost In The End Of Time (beautiful interplay between electric guitar and a melancholical violin).

And what a variety in the other songs.

Rainbow-like Heavy Prog with powerful vocals in Shooting Star (Hammond sound like Jon Lord and a flashy Minimoog synthesizer solo with pitchbend) and A Light In The Sky Pt.2.

Rockabilly (in the vein of The Strays Cats) with Hammond organ in Rocket To the Moon.

Fiery guitar with a jazzy Fender Rhodes electric piano in Big Crunch.

And ambient keyboard sounds in several short songs like Big Bang, Lift Off and Metallicity.

Especially during the 12 instrumental tracks Don Airey showcases his impressive skills on a wide range of keyboards, what an exciting, varied and genuine progressive album.

It was released on January 1972, it was the 3rd studio album of Wishbone Ash, and it is considered their best work by far. Needless to say that is also their most famous work. Many music magazines named it as 'album of the year' on 1972.

The album has a Medieval theme, and the music style includes elements of Progressive Rock, Hard Rock and Folk Rock.

The major characteristic of Argus was the two leading guitars (instead of the usual one lead and one rhythm guitar), that gave to their sound a very different feeling. Actually, this album is considered as a landmark for it's special guitar sound. This two-lead-guitar style, was adopted later on from bands like Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden, among others.

The sound engineer was Martin Birch, who had also worked with Deep Purple and later on with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. In the years that followed, Argus became a big live attraction, which still continues in many occasions in our days.

The album includes 7 songs, and with the exception of Leaf and Stream (3.55), all the other songs are over 5 minutes long. Songs like Warrior, The King will Come, and Throw down the Sword are examples of how good and well-structured Rock music should sound like.

I remember buying the vinyl edition at some point during the 80's and the CD re-issue almost ten years later, which was including one extra song.

In my opinion, Argus is a brilliant album and a 'must-have' for every Rock fan. In case you don't have it yet, buy it without a second thought! 5.0 Stars from me

For my taste "Switch" contains three excellent tracks. Instrumental "Intro" provides nice atmosphere alternating between a slow tempo spacey part and a more hard rocking section that follows. There are subdued vocals repeating the Latin phrase "Plus Minus Absurdio" in a more instrumental effect. The title track invites us to a more familiar GE territory with its groovy sound based on irresistible twin guitars boogie rocking and fine Hay's singing. "Kill Me" almost anticipates a gloomy post-punk with its dark and foreboding rhythm. When I first heard the vocals I was reminded of Peter Murphy's baritone invoking Bela Lugosi several years ahead with his BAUHAUS. Also, guitar effects are wonderfully used. With its 6,5 minutes duration it is a song most resembling a sort of prog rock, along with the "Intro".

The rest of the album is not on par with these three gems. Slightly funky "Love Is a Rodeo" starts with a guitar chord or riff that would be later perfected on the future hit "Mad Love's Coming" off "Contraband" LP, but multi-vocal chorus is not very effective here. Another song that was perhaps composed to act as the album's hit single is reggae-tinged "Tons of Time" opening the B-side of the vinyl. It is a nice melodic track with good organ and synth backing, that would probably get more attention had it been released around 1979-80 during the post-punk ska revival and emergence of commercial "lover's rock" branch of Jamaican music. The rest of this album is occupied by unremarkable generic rock tracks, whose occasional good solo on saxophone (strangely, not by Barry Hay but by a guest musician), piano or guitar cannot redeem a true value.

What "Switch" seems to confirm is that GOLDEN EARRING had trouble with composing a quality album-length material, and that despite offering some brilliant moments (mostly to be found on the A side of the LP), many tracks sound as fillers. That said, this album is still a good one. There is nothing particularly wrong even with these lesser tracks. It is just that from the prog rock perspective (even if GE are not considered a "true" representative of the genre) there is much left to be desired.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5