PATTO

This is an album that seems to be universally loved. Well except for yours truly because Bluesy rock that is listener friendly just doesn't do much for me. Of course there's much more here than that but this sounds like so many bands from back in the day. PATTO is named after it's vocalist Mike Patto who has a rough bluesy voice but we also get some players here in drummer John Halsey and especially guitarist Peter "Ollie" Halsall. The inventive moments are so impressive but then there's that commercial sounding bluesy stuff that does nothing for me. Love the cover art.

"The Man" is a surprisingly laid back opener with tasteful guitar, a beat and reserved vocals. Some vibes around 2 1/2 minutes as the vocals and guitar step aside and they return just before 4 minutes. It does turn fuller and we get more passionate vocals with active drumming late. "Hold Me Back" has more energy to it but it's still a straight forward song with the focus on the vocals mostly. Some really nice guitar from around 2 minutes in to before 3 1/2 minutes when the vocals return. It's okay.

"Time To Die" has these acoustic guitar melodies and fragile vocals but drums and bass join in quickly. A folky tune. "Red Glow" has this sixties sounding guitar intro as the bass and drums support and vocals join in. The vocals stop at 1 1/2 minutes as the guitar lets it rip for about a minute. This happens again 4 minutes in. "San Antone" opens with guitar, bass and drums as they sort of stutter along as vocals join in and man this sounds lame. Commercial drivel.

"Government Man" is a song where the focus is on the story. "Money Bag" really comes across as Free Jazz the way we get such an unmelodic soundscape, especially the relentless guitar that is so annoying. This goes on unmercifully until it ends just before 6 1/2 minutes! The vocals and calm take over at this point. This is somewhat jazzy and whimsical really the rest of the way. "Sittin' Back Easy" ends it and we get a folky vibe here until it turns fuller with more passionate vocals. Contrasts continue until we get some nice guitar work after 3 minutes.

Should get some hate mail over this one but I really don't get the appeal and no they shouldn't have been more popular than they were.