LOCOMOTIV GT

In 1970 Gabor Presser and Jozsef Laux both left Omega to form Locomotiv GT (LGT), a band that would become almost as legendary in Hungary as Omega itself. This debut shows the band at an early stage juggling between blues rock frenzy and lyrical ballads. Somewhat limited to early hard rock sphere of influence, the band hardly breaks out of traditional song structures, and largely utilizes rhythmic and harmonic conventions used by hard rock bands from Britain. On the other hand LGT should be given props, because the music on this albums is almost as great as Led Zeppelin's first few and Purple's golden era, heed my call. The band sounds tight and confident. The guitar playing of Tamas Barta matches Blackmore in quality, and the awesome organ playing by Presser certainly matches or even surpasses Lord. The rhythm section is just perfect for this kind of music, tight and driving. In addition the bassist also plays saxophone which foreshadows the band's evolution in the next ten years into a much more jazz/soul-influenced outfit (think of Purple's evolution on "Stormbringer" and "Come Taste the Band").

As previously stated, most of the music on this album apes the classic hard rock invasion sound of the early 70s, and if you like that kind of music, this won't dissapoint. The are some deviations as well, for example "Ordító arcok" with it's Fripp-like riffing and a lengthy percussion-driven jamming, in the style of Santana, or "Hej, én szólok hozzád" with a galloping Iron Maiden-like riff and some jazzy sax playing. Another highlight is "A kötéltáncos álma" with it's pleasant lyrical melodies and complimentary piano playing. Despite these slight allusions to prog rock, the album remains a fairly normal hard rock album.

Sprung from the loins of Omega, this is a band with a lot of musical chops. This is the first thing that pops out at you when your ears first wrap themselves around the groozes being laid down early in this album. Don't fear the language barrier either as the singing is quite accessible whether you understand it or not. Perhaps the album only straddles the prog rock borderline but it does feature plenty of impressive organ work from Presser Gábor, which makes it well worth looking into. The album is a little front heavy with the best songs revealed early but on a whole this is a pretty clever little piece of 70s rock. Basically, a nice rock/borderline prog album that is worth a listen but not something worth a lengthy search for. 3 stars.

The first album of this Hungarian band. A hard rock but with some amazing guitar and organ parts. Lirycs are in Hungarian and I don't untherstand what the message but the arrangements wit guitar and organ are brilliant. We must see that in music of seventies decade, the outside of Iron Courtain can not be listen, and the influencies of west, made some superior bands in some East coutrys. This is a very good album made in 1971, with a very good sound when some of germany and other country's band's don't was. I think that most of people don't listen the music when lirycs are not in English. This is a good example of a good rock made in Hungary. This is a not boring album, not excentric and psichedelic just most music made in early seventies decade, but really a rock album. 4 stars for rock quality.

The first album by a Hungarian supergroup that came to be following a poll in a youth magazine. The talent represented here are a "Who is Who" in the (then) Hungarian rock scene. So, the guys left their previous bands and embarked on a new direction.

All musicians here are skillful, the tunes however reveal that this band was lacking in common ideas. A bit like the same cart is pulled by horses in opposing directions The end result is quite reasonable Rock-Blues tunes that represented a promising, fresh approach on the Hungarian music scene. Unfortunately, this line-up was unlikely to last long enough to mature and a split has duly occurred after the second album. FRENREISZ returning home after having studied music in the US, likely to have brought the first Fender bass with him, the rich sound of which provided instant appeal to the band. Apart from lead vocals, he also played saxes, often two at the same time - not unlike Dick Heckstall-Smith of Colosseum.

PRESSER on the other hand played credible keyboards and added vocals reminiscent of a neutered sausage on a "bad hair day" .... Brrrrr! His compositions nevertheless are thoughtful and the lyrics represent dark and meaningful poetry - if only written by the drummer's wife, Anna ADAMIS.

When permitted to shine, BARTA on the other hand played his guitars with almost unprecedented fluidity that could be likened to Holdsworth's ability on the instrument - albeit not in the same style.

LAUX on his Ludwig glass drums often sounding like John Bonham with the associated heaviness faithfully contributed to whatever the others dished out in compositions. To this day he retains a legendary reputation as one of the finest drummers of the time.

The first two albums of LGT were rather innovative, largely due to the influence of FRENREISZ and the general musicianship, but the band were never more than promising hope for quality Rock - Blues music and fell apart too soon. Later releases with PRESSER as the only original member left to carry the LGT name represent a rather mediocre output in comparison and have little to do with Prog.

(References to King Crimson, Gentle Giant tend to intrigue me as none of the musicians were even slightly inclined in such directions.)