HERO

I've read a lot of regional music history books over the years, but as I listened to this album for the first time it occurred to me that I've never read one about the German music scene. I'll definitely have to add this to the 'to-do' list.

I get the impression there were all kinds of bands running around Germany in the early seventies, including many who were imports and/or were comprised of multinational memberships. Of those a fair number played some form of heavy progressive music, including Sweet Smoke, Krokodil, Prudence, Odin and these guys. All of them seem to have been influenced by the Krautrock sound at least a bit, and Hero were no exception.

At least two of the three members were of Italian descent, while according to various biographies the lead singer and keyboardist Robert Deller was "English". He sounds very American to me, but I can't find any information that would confirm or deny this. In any case his lineage gives him the ability to deliver all the band's vocals in English, which given the fact they left Italy to pursue their career might have helped them touring had they managed to hold together longer. Guitarist Massimo Pravato was killed in an auto accident shortly after this album was recorded, and the band was all but defunct before it even released.

Like some of the bands I mentioned above the blend of backgrounds and transplant to Germany (Munich in this case) seem to have resulted in a fairly eclectic and experimental nature to Hero's music, although it still manages to stay firmly planted in heavy rock territory for the most part. There is the odd spoken-word acoustic closer "Buzzard", but otherwise things stay heavy but adventurous throughout.

I have to say that the first few times I spun this thing I was a tad put off by the first couple of tracks. The opening "Merry Go Round" starts off well enough; brooding guitar intro and a building sense of anticipation that things are going to explode into something brilliant. But when the onslaught comes its rather flat with insipid lyrics and far too reminiscent of the Spinal Tap space-egg concert scene for my comfort. And while I love Hammond organ as much as the next progophile, one has to at least attempt to play it within the construct of the music which barely seems to be the case here. The second song "Crumbs of a Day" is frankly worse, a mash-up of improvisational guitar feedback riffs, staccato drumming and Hammond that oscillates wildly between overpowering and nonexistent. I actually do like Buzzard's vocals on this one and that may be its one saving grace.

After several playings I've begun to warm to the first couple of tracks a bit more, but I still have a bit of trouble getting Spinal Tap out of my head when I hear them.

Things do get better very quickly with "Sunday Best", one of the longer songs on the album and much more controlled and (dare I say) melodic than the first two. The band shows their chops a bit with some vocal harmonizing as well. I like the way the group lets the Hammond take center stage on this song and don't overwork the guitar or percussion to try and fill any spaces left by the keyboards. The result is something that sounds clean and precise which I always expect of Italian hard rock, but at the same time retains that undeniable Krautrock heavy, almost metal scent.

"Seminar" breaks up the mood with a more stilted organ sound and jerky tempo that was more than likely meant to be delivered to stoned teenagers in concert. I can just see a human wave of long-hairs in black t-shirts undulating to the frenzied tempo, index and little fingers extended and a f**k-the-world sneer on their faces. Further proof that heavy metal has strong roots in both progressive rock.

On the other hand "Children's Game" is more balanced between keyboards and guitar and, while this one is also quite heavy, manages to come off as more of a mood piece than a headbanger. "Knock" is a variation on "Seminar" and despite the decent guitar soloing late in the song could have been left off the album in my opinion.

If the band had a signature tune it would probably be "Clapping and Smiling", a nine-minute dirge that starts of as acoustic guitar noodling over wispy keyboards, builds to a heavy midsection before stretching out with more expansive keyboards and electric guitar noodling before rising up once again briefly to climax. I can't say the group innovated anything with this song, but they did manage to keep it together and tight for more than nine minutes without any obvious improvisation or lack of studio discipline, which tells me they were pretty decent musicians. "Dew-Drops" is sort of a reverse construction of this, starting off heavy and laying out a couple times in the middle but finishing strong. Here there is evidence of improvising though, particularly on keyboards. I get the sense the band was running out of ideas by this point, not surprising considering this is a debut and the album is more than forty-five minutes long.

Good luck finding the original vinyl of this thing. There are at least four CD reissues I know of and even a vinyl reissue but that one is probably lost to time as well. I've no idea which of these is legitimate and which are dubious knockoffs although I will say my copy is not a remastered reissue so I have my doubts about it. Anyway, it probably doesn't matter if you follow my recommendation, which is not to look too hard for this record. It has its moments but is for the most part lost to time because it deserves to be. Two stars out of five for collectors of obscure multinational prog music, but otherwise keep moving down the record aisle and look for something under "I" or "J".

peace