ZAZU

These Midwestern bands from the mid to late '70s seemed to always be of two minds: to please the audience who want nothing more than to rock and have a good time and radio programmers, while throwing in more complex ambitious material on the same album. Kansas and Styx being rather obvious examples, which didn't hurt their success any, although their earliest albums weren't exactly chart toppers (but after 1978 both groups pretty much gave up their more ambitious side for continuing chart success, sticking to a pomp rock/AOR direction). Zazu, from Chicago, recorded for Wooden Nickel, which is the same label Styx recorded their first four albums. Is it really like Styx? Maybe a little, occasional vocals that remind me of James Young, but this is a strange group. They sound like your typical mid '70s rock band but with a keyboardist, in this case John Milnick, who really wishes he was Keith Emerson, he seems really out of place. "Country Eyes" has a bit of that yacht rock feel to it, vocal harmonies that remind me of Orleans' "Dance With Me". "Upon the Island Unisphere" starts deceptively like another one of those mid '70s rock pieces then Milnick unexpectedly gives us some great proggy synth and organ passages. I keep thinking a full-on symphonic prog act would have suited him better. "Just Friends" is pretty straightforward, a song that sounded pretty obviously aimed for radio airplay. But for the most part, it's the 10 minute "Ittsanottasonotta, but It's Close" is the focal point of attention for progheads. This is where the band goes full-on prog, and naturally Milnick's time to shine, and for the most part, this is the only reason for progheads to own the album. I can see why it's the album's highlight, it's a wonderful piece and the highlight, but I really love the melodies and songs from the more straightforward material on this album. Prog purists would probably go for "Ittsanottasonotta", but that's it, but I found the rest of the album enjoyable, so I give it a four star rating.