Best Atomic Rooster Studio Record

While the first 4 or 5 are all pretty good , Death is by far the best....imo.

In Hearing Of...

There's very little between the first three LPs which are all very good in terms of quality. In Hearing Of shades it due to featuring Pete French's great hard rock vocals, Paul Hammond's superb drumming, plus probably my favourite Rooster track Breakthrough.

The later funk and metal combos were quite enjoyable but I think their peak era was the proggy/hard rock albums they made 1969-71.

Death Walks Behind You

My favorite is In Hearing. I especially like the production on the drums. I like the sound of the snare drum on "Breakthrough" and of course the playing which comes across more sophisticated. I like Pete French as the vocalist, Vincent Crane is a wizard on keys, the guitar is produced well and fits the style of writing perfectly. It's a collection of dark songs which cross boundaries of Prog rock many times throughout the album, but especially to notice in the instrumental sections. The vocals are very open and grab your attention. The perfect amount of echo on Pete French's voice is utilized to produce a haunting affect on the listener. When he sings..."There must be a way outta here" on "Breakthrough" it's reminiscent of commonly used dynamics in musicals. It's producing the effect to the story line of the song and is well thought out by the band. "Black Snake" contains one of the strangest organ solos ever written in Progressive rock. It's very counterpoint in 1 particular section of the solo and the choice of notes to be held or sustained while other notes are being played are of the most creepy, blood thirsty, body freezing effect to make your mind drift off or travel to the darkside....whether you understand the darkside and the underworld or not..it makes no difference because Vincent Crane will take you there with the music. Even if it creates a small insignificant vibe like a long walk down a short, dark hallway....it will draw you in and creep up on you like arpeggiated equilibrium. I suppose Vincent Crane was a "dark child" himself, lighting candles..and practicing spells according to the reports of Chris Farlowe. Demonology, dark cloaks, an incense burner and the desire for death. The investigators decided to trace the pattern of Crane's final moment. Demons were awaiting!...and his appointment could not be broken. Think about the piano intro to "Death Walks Behind You". Vincent Crane made this band dark and interesting.

Edited by TODDLER - February 04 2014 at 20:22

I have all the AR LP's but not 'Homework'. I still find their debut most wonderful and the album I spend most listening time with. That's the first vote for their S/T album !!
......oh yeah, and my ultimate favourite Rooster track is the song 'Black Snake' from 'In Hearing Of...'

Edited by Tom Ozric - February 04 2014 at 21:55

^

That's a confusing answer, Thomas, because most of their albums have some kind of occult unease about them!

^ No ; - one with tits and the other without - seriously, I don't know the one with guitars - the LP I have (without the mammary glands) has Nick Graham on bass and flute mainly, and guitar on a song or two. Just love Crane's Hammond tone on this one (similar to Crazy World) and Carl's drums have an amazing sound for the time. Just one heck of an album.

Edited by Tom Ozric - February 05 2014 at 03:13

Atomic Rooster, followed by Death Walks Behind You