ASSORTMENT

Atomic Rooster found fame from two different sources. Firstly, they had two big hit singles, "Tomorrow night" and "Devil's answer". Secondly, Carl Palmer, who of course went on to find greater fame elsewhere, was at one time their drummer.

Had it not been for both of these circumstances, and in particular the latter, I suspect Atomic Rooster would have joined the swollen ranks of long forgotten bands. I am not by any means wishing to imply that they lacked ability or to diminish the contributions of Cann and Crane, but there is generally little about their music which distinguishes them from the masses.

"Assortment" is a compilation album, drawing tracks from the band's first three albums ("Atomic Ro(o)oster", "Death walks behind you" and "In hearing of", plus the non album single "Devil's answer".

The track selections offer a good cross section of those albums, with songs such "Tomorrow night" and the title track from "Death walks behind you" pretty much picking themselves on any Atomic Rooster compilation. A couple of the tracks, "S.L.Y." and "Decline and fall", both from the first album, are interesting selections as they are among the less obvious tracks to choose. The latter features Palmer's drum playing up front, including a frantic solo. It is not a great track, but ELP fans should lap it up!

This compilation has been largely superseded by the vastly superior "Heavy soul", a double CD compilation which takes in tracks from all their albums up to "Nice 'n' greasy". It is therefore redundant other than for collectors and those with more than just an affection for the band.

Let us check out this collection then - what is hot and what is not on this collectable vinyl.

Side 1:

Devil's Answer - absolutely quintessential Rooster and must be here.

Sleeping For Years - Ok, not sure if I would include it here though.

Friday The 13th - another amazing track with Vincent Crane at his best on keys and heavy riffing guitars with dark lyrics.

I Can't Take No More - a questionable choice for their best

Death Walks Behind You - the absolute best of the Rooster, and a brilliant piano intro with huge time sig changes and heavy guitar work. Wonderful and great to see it here.

Side 2

Tomorrow Night - brilliant and a must for all Rooster fans, one of their most famous.

Break The Ice - satisfactory with lots of keyboard crunching.

S.L.Y. - nice choice, a great driving track.

The Price - Once again not as good a track as others.

Decline And Fall - why is this on the best?

So that is it. Nowhere near as bad as some comps though it was the first, but still the best comp is the 2 CD "Heavy Soul Anthology". This is a real collectors item though and recommended.