MONKEY'S BUM

After their ill-reputed album (unconfirmed by this writer, since I've never heard it) Roll 'Em (which does give a hint of the group's pre-occupations), the group was o the verge of a break- up, but managed to record a fourth album, but since the group was on ots last stand, it never saw the light of day until the mid-90's, when Audio Archives chose to publish it from a fairly bad tape, which means that you shouldn't expect great sounds. In either case, AA does pull a very interesting recording into the sunlight, much like it had done with fantasy's second album. On the downside, they used a fairly crummy partial artwork of one of their previous album's covers.

Basically the music stays relatively close to the jazz-influenced blues rock developed in the first two albums, giving it a prog edge at times! While the opening tracks suffers from the tape's condition, it convinces us that Patto might have had still something to say and if not the group, at least Halsall when he's pulling a great jazz-tinged solo from a hard-edged rocker. The following Dream starts on en electric piano from Olie, then dubbing himself with another cool guitar part. Not everything is good with this album and tracks like Sugar Cube come with a horn section, others like I Need You are just plain going-thru-the-motions (too fast), and many less-inspired tracks. Patto's raspy voice is a cross of Rod Stewart and Paul Rodgers, but history will retain he could not fit in the niche between those two. Halsall's always excellent guitar always manage to salvage something, even in the worst like Good Friend. Most of what would've been the flipside is made of boogie-blues-rock that will certainly not revolutionize you're your world, let alone shake it a tiny bit. Hedyob is the only track managing some (enough) interest to match the album's first two, with its superb guitar solo.

Patto would go on to form Boxer (you know the naked woman with the boxing glove), a group with impressive people going through: Patto, Halsall, Boz Burrell (Crimson), Newman (May blitz), Tim Bogert (Fudge) and a few Beck collabs from the second group; but that's another story. This fourth album should have the right to sit on your shelves with the three historical releases, and is certainly as good as the first two.