CITY BOY

CITY BOY were a Birmingham based art rock band who mixed funk, prog and pop into their music. It is hard band to exactly peg down this band but I would categorize them somewhere in the 10CC, STARCASTLE, early SPLITZ ENZ school of prog. My favourite track on the album is the 8 minute 5000 Years which is a timeless piece of prog rock. This album features the dual vocals of Lol Mason and Steve Broughton who collectively gave CITY BOY their unique sound. Overall a great album with some pretty cool moments and a couple of real prog gems tossed in. An excellent listen.

Let's talk about one of the unsung heroes of the '70s, a little band called City Boy. If you thought that Barclay James Harvest had a hard time finding an audience for their music, then hold on to your hats as I do the seven album retrospective of the band that definitely had everything in their repertoire to make them attractive to a wider audience and how their big break just never came. Still, isn't that one time opportunity the reason why so many young people are so attracted to the music business?

The self-titled debut from the sextet was where the band began their exploration of their sound and so the final product can both be considered good and bad. It's definitely a great introduction for any newcomer to City Boy since we get to hear so many sides of the band's repertoire. Unfortunately this is exactly the reason why the album just never managed to strike a definite cord with me. There are just too many different types of songs here that don't make the overall experience a consistent one.

The album is often referred to as one of the band's definite progressive rock moment with Sunset Boulevard and the 9 minute 5000 Years / Don't Know Can't Tell taking the young band's ambitions to the extreme. Personally I never considered this album to be more than a light Art Rock affair, hailed by the great versatility in style and quality between the compositions. The follow-up release Dinner At The Ritz was where City Boy actually tried out their progressive chops to a much greater effect, making that album somewhat of a conceptual piece as well.

If you're new to City Boy then this is definitely the album you should start with since it offers you the best retrospective of the band's sound and some great songwriting to go along with it. The band had a few better albums later on in their career but those releases usually concentrate on a certain aspect of the band's overall sound, showing us exactly why City Boy was such a great album-oriented band. Still, you haven't actually heard City Boy until you've heard this record!

***** star songs: (Moonlight) Shake My Head And Leave (4:25)

**** star songs: Deadly Delicious (4:37) Sunset Boulevard (6:17) 5000 Years / Don't Know Can't Tell (8:40) Haymaking Time (5:28)

*** star songs: Surgery Hours (Doctor Doctor) (3:04) Oddball Dance (5:04) The Hap-Ki-Do Kid (3:13) The Greatest Story Ever Told (4:46)