FREE FOR ALL

After partly successful mix of heavy prog and standard hard rock in their debut, self-titled album, Bull Angus recorded another LP called "Free for All". Unfortunately this one presents even more mainstream oriented material dominated by typical hard/southern rock with strong pop flavor. This staff can't be called heavy prog at all because it contains only few progressive influences.

And now let's look into the songs:

1. "Lone Stranger" - uninspiring rock song led by dual guitars & bland piano melody. Nothing to remember when it's over.

2. "City Boy" - another unmemorable tune, very soft & uninspiring. Nothing hard and nothing prog here. Sounds more like mid 60s rock'n'roller. Couple of blues-rock piano/guitar jams in the second part of the song doesn't add too much.

3. "Loving Till End" - finally some more ambitious material arrives here. Quite calm and atmospheric track with passionate vocals & some nice flute fragments. A bit of Jethro Tull & a bit of Cressida I would say. Definitely the most prog-rock moment on the album.

4. "Savoy Truffle" - very poppy song which reminds me some of Queen's material at its worst (usually I enjoy Queen anyway). Soul/R'n'B like choruses are especially dreadful. But there is one good thing: finally Ron Piccolo plays Hammond organ here! It's only one standard solo but it's still fact worth to be mentioned (but it can't be even compared with organ-driven debut of Bull Angus!).

5. "Drivin' Me Wild" - another normal hard rocker with rather annoying refrain. Lots of average guitar riffing + one smokin' organ solo. Near the end there are some more energetic guitar duels & Hammond chops but nothing extraordinary.

6. "(We're the) Children of Our Dreams" - not so bad rock ballad with quite catchy and not obstructive refrain. Rather standard but pleasant to listen. Some harmony vocals similar to Queen (and this time comparison is a compliment of course).

7. "Train Woman Lee" - more psychy/proggy track with main melody played by Ron on organ. Sometimes Uriah Heep/Deep Purple spring to my mind when I listen to it, but during extended organ solo I can also see clear Atomic Rooster influences. Along with "Loving Till End" this is my pick from the album.

As you see from above descriptions, it's a rather weak album which doesn't deserve too much attention from progressive rock fans and casual hard rock lovers may also find it too poppy/mainstream. Compared with Bull Angus' debut compositions are quite lame here. Also keyboardist seems to be out of form and sticks mainly too piano (switches to organ only for couple of solos). Overall not highly recommended, you should better check real heavy prog albums first (for example Bull Angus' debut). But if you're in a mood for something less engaging you may try it.

More bands which play(ed) similar music: Bloodrock, Nazareth, Led Zeppelin, Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Kansas (in their most mainstream moments in 70s).

Best tracks: "Loving Till End" & "Train Woman Lee".

2 stars (with small "plus") from ozzy_tom