PALADIN

No "Charge"

Paladin's first album has always lived in the shadow of it's magnificent successor "Charge". It doesn't take long to realise that this is rightly the case. "Paladin" certainly has indications that the band were capable of producing some really good music, but unfortunately overall it fails to deliver.

The opening track, "Bad times" has some fine organ work by Pete Soley, but is let down by some average vocals (which would have benefited from more imaginative production), and some inappropriate Osibisa like percussion.

"Dance of the cobra", a reasonable instrumental track, is ruined by a lengthy drum solo from Keith Webb, the absolute low point of the album.

"Third world" indulges in a form of rap, long before that style became popular, predating even Aerosmith's "Walk this way" by some years.

"Flying high" is a softer piece, an early hint of "Mix your minds with the moonbeams" which would appear on the next album. Lyrically it's rather twee, but probably the best still track, with some more excellent organ work.

Paladin made one great album before they folded, unfortunately they also made this one!

I don't think this is as bad as the other reviewer said it was. It has flaws and lacks direction..YES...but it tosses a lot of ideas around and overall, is an innovative cd with art rock leanings at the forefront and hard rock, world music and yes..even rap in the background. The drum solo was a no go, but the swirling organ adds nice effects. Or maybe i just like the organ. either way this is a decent cd with some nice ideas...some implented well while others fell flat on their faces. but having no direction isn't as bad as a flaw as some people say it is some of the time. this is one of those times. check this out if you know the genre of prog well and want something new.

From the band's name one should expect something different than a possible soundtrack for Starsky and Hutch. This is what the first half of "Bad Times" reminds to. It's not so bad when compulsive percussions give to Peter Soley the possibility to place a very good even if very dated organ solo. Shaft meets Wishbone Ash ? Let's see what comes after...

"Carry Me Home" is a country-rock song. Crosby, Stills and Nash with a Lynyrd Skynyrd piano. Nice, everything but original in any case. Have they been at Woodstock, maybe?

A 7 minutes track...something progressive is coming? Well, it's not bad music. I can keep it in my headphones while I'm working...but we are still on the chords of a police movie of the early 70s. A samba tempo on which the electric guitar plays an unoriginal solo. It's like a tribute to Santana that doesn't go anywhere. Just three chords for the guitarist to have fun. Half of the song is so. The second half is a jazzistic drum solo. Ok, this guy can play drums. Is it a mambo now? 3 minutes of Santana like guitar and 3 of drums solo plus a coda.

Samba again with "Third World". A guy speaks of politics over the sound of percussions. An ancestor of Rap. The lyric is about the chronicles of the years to come (in 1971). Interesting as subject. One minute of piano as coda.

"Fill Up Your Heart" is another funky track. Nice but nothing special again. The central instrumental part is one of the most progressive thing of this album.

A surprise..."Flying High" may be a Caravan track. The first British thing on an American album. The choir in the chorus sounds quite hippie, but it's not outplaced. Very, very Caravan.

The closer track "The Fakir" wants to have an oriental flavour as the title says, but it's just repetitive and it lacks of inventive. An attempt to be psychedelic, maybe. An idea that could have been developed better.

In few words, this musicians are skilled, but the album is very immature. It's like they have recorded what they had at the moment. The various tracks don't lead to any place and all I can say is that the band is promising but this is no more than a collection of disconnected promos.

I know from PA that their following albums are good enough, but I would have left this one in the closet of the Bronze label.

Not for sale.

In the late 60s and early 70s when most bands were looking to the English musical world for inspiration, there were the occasional few examples of the opposite being true. Although emerging from the village of Arlingham in the Gloucestershire region of SW England, PALADIN were getting much of their inspiration from the other side of the Atlantic all the while garnering attention through a series of tours up and down the English countryside and finally winning over Island Records with live performances alone. The band released their eponymous debut in 1971 with critical acclaim for their eclectic incorporations of many of the sounds that had caught the Americas by storm around the same period including Afro-Cuban rhythms, jazzy rock fusion, psychedelia, ethnic embellishments and most of all solid strong catchy hooks that had all the addicting popular music attributes even upon first listen. The band consisted of only five members but many doubled up on their instrumental duties which gives this debut release quite the variation in sounds that lead you to believe that you are listening to a compilation album instead of one that is performed by the same band for its seven tracks.

Right from the beginning track 'Bad Times' it's obvious that PALADIN was very much influenced by Santana with some tight percussion that sounds like it could've been lifted off of 'Black Magic Woman,' however that's only true with the percussive drive as the slightly jazzy rock groove reminds me more of Steely Dan and other crossover jazz rock artists of the decade. Wasting no time deviating from a single style the second track makes you think that somehow a Lynyrd Skynyrd track was somehow mistakenly inserted between tracks, however despite sounding like Alabama's greatest contribution to Southern Rock, this retro sound actually came out two years before Skynyrd's debut album. Following the trend of no two tracks sounding even remotely alike, 'Dance Of The Cobra' emerges as a strange hybrid of 60s psychedelia with the Afro-Cuban Santana influenced percussion section that is augmented by bantering organ runs and a jazz-rock laden groove that could've rocked the Copacabana only with a touch of 60s stonerism oozing out of the mystic musical cracks. Most surprisingly is how it morphs into a heavier rock section and then commences with an over-the-top drum solo that builds to a staggering feat of stamina that sounds like something that would be perfect in a live performance setting but feels sort of strange on a studio album track. Once it ends it is replaced by a super groovy bass line that cedes to some outstanding guitar work that usher the longest track of the album to completion.

'Third World' is yet another complete left turn. While the Cuban percussion section is still in effect, it is the only musical section to be heard as the vocalist actually sort of raps around it going through each year of the 70s with clever little lyrical tales of how the future will unfold as the backing vocalists engage in an energetic call-and-response session. The lyrical style kind of reminds me of Debbie Harry on 'Rapture.' It concludes as the vocals stop and a piano run steals the show and fades out. 'Fill Up Your Heart' is an uplifting little positive number that sounds like a jazz laced rocker that probably sounds most like Steely Dan. 'Flying High' changes things up completely again. This one sounds like a late 70s AOR ballad! It reminds me of some of the sappiest of the sappy like something 10CC did at their poppiest or even something Hall & Oates would have cranked out during their pop charts run. And just when i have absolutely no idea where this album will go next, it takes yet another totally opposite approach and ends with the Lalo Schifrin cover track 'The Fakir' which of all things some sort of Middle Eastern groovy trance inducing number with seducing Arabesque musical scales that make me feel like i've woken up on the Silk Road!

This really has to be one of THE most unfocused albums of the early 70s. I've never heard so many genres and styles of music mixed and alternated together at least until Mr Bungle came along in the 90s! While i find this album very pleasing to listen to, it is a mixed bag for several reasons. All of the tracks are really well done for their retrospective styles but for some reason all this eclecticism feels a little hollow since the band is merely copying different styles and not really simmering them down into something tangibly their very own. The album comes across as a smorgasbord sampling of what the era had to offer with a few original twists and turns that do take me by surprise. After all is said and done, i actually like listening to this despite it not being the most original sound ammalgation of the era. The musicians are all quite talented and the compositions are quite catchy and are excellent representations of the styles they incorporate however as much as i enjoy listening to PALADIN's debut there is no denying that it simply regurgitates the swath of sonic samplings that were en vogue during the era and something just seems off and missing from the mix.

3.5 but rounded down because there's not really anything progressive on this one

"Paladin" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by UK music act Paladin. The album was released through Epic/Bronze Records in 1971. Paladin was formed in 1970 by keyboard player Peter Solley and drummer Keith Webb, who both came from a stint as members of Terry Reid's touring band, who had supported The Rolling Stones on their 1969 American tour.

Stylistically the material on "Paladin" is a highly energetic form of rock drawing influences from jazz/rock, blues rock, progressive rock, and psychedelic rock. Webb is an absolute monster on the drums and his high voltage drumming style drives the music forward with great energy and passion (take a listen to his high energy performance on "Bad Times"), and his performance here is definitely one of the greatest assets of the album. The vocals are decent but nothing out of the ordinary, so it´s mostly the instrumental part of the music which is worth a closer investigation, and Solley´s piano and organ playing is worth more than a couple of mentions. The rest of the band are well playing too.

The album features a well sounding, powerful, and organic toned production job, and it´s a sound production which provides the material with great opportunities to shine. Upon conclusion this is a good quality debut album from Paladin, but the tracks which are a bit more straight forward vers/chorus based rock tracks really aren´t that interesting (tracks like "Carry Me Home" and "Flying High" could be mentioned here) and drag my rating down a bit. Paladin are arguably best when they are full throttle high energy rocking, which fortunately they are on several tracks on the album. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.