ZOO

Looking through a dusty pile of old records for something to play on the radio, I found this little nugget from 1972. Bert Veldkamp plays bass - and later went to join Kayak - and the other musicians were well known around Groningen when I was a kid. Other members of the band had been in a band called "Spring" (nothing to do with the English band of the same name), and I'd seen a few of their gigs. I saw this band live twice, and they were pretty good for what would be considered a "local" band. That's why I bought this album all those years ago.

I'm being generous giving this three stars - perhaps it's just the nostalgia for my teenage years that this evokes - but much of it is quite good. The "Beatles Medley" is superfluous - probably forced on to them by well-meaning management - but the rest of the album is pretty good.

The opening track "Cold Night" is predominantly guitar and Hammond Organ led, so has a bit of the Focus sound about it. The next track "Summerday" has some strange key changes and a non-obvious melody - possibly the proggiest track here. "Everybody Knows" is a a pop-rocker and I played it to death when I was a kid. "I'm Here" is a ballad that I never really liked much at the time, but sounds better these days. The Beatles Medley is best forgotten, and the next track "Zoo Music" is fine, but really didn't need the extended drum solo! The last track - "Feelings" - uses two lead voices in either channel, to give a sort of "conversation" between alternating verse lines.

This band also released four singles (that don't appear on the album), but I can't find them..... They're here somewhere!

Not essential, but worth a listen.