HOODOO MAN

There are heavy guitars and Hammond organ enough to please fans of hard rock, but on Hoodoo Man Birth Control are more a Uriah Heep influenced hard rock jam band than a true progressive rock one, so I can't give them any more stars than 3. Hoodoo Man definitely approaches prog on several tracks such as on Gamma Ray, Kaulstoss or the organ heavy title track, and though I like this album quite a bit, for prog-heads I would recommend their later two albums Backdoor Possibilities and the brilliant Plastic People before this one. Those two are reminiscent of Nektar mixed with a heavier sort of Cantebury sound, Gentle Giant and an in tune Amon Duul II. The harder rocking elements found on this album have been toned down in favor of notational complexity, jazzy improvs and dynamics. But don't let me dissuade you from checking out Hoodoo Man, though it's not quite as prog as some of their other later material it's musicianship and song writing are often very engaging and at times humorous (see the before mentioned Kaulstoss). It rocks and Birth Control can really play.