ROXY ELEPHANT

I guess I wouldn´t be so harsh to this obscure band as Psarros, but he´s got a point. Besides, the name doesn´t help. To me, the band is interesting. Their sound definitly is more hard rock than prog, and it´s rare to find a german band at the time that has no mellotron, in fact, they dont´have any keyboards at all on this album. The musicians are good, of course, but really their songwriting here is below par. Even the best song (the title track) is spoiled by a drum solo. The remaing tracks are not bad, just plain common and full of cliches. For 1975, they were already dated with this kind of style. The band reminds me, vaguely, of a cross between early Eloy and Wishbone Ash (the dual guitar solo and vocal harmonies are especially evident on the opener Heartfire), but without the talent of either group. The results are nice most of the time, but never exciting or memorable.

It´s clear that Pancake should have taken their time to hone their songwriting skills and look for a personal sound. Certainly they had the chops, but they also had a dire need of a good producer and a better vocalist. I guess the follow ups might be better, but this one is just for fans of early 70´s hard/psychedelic rock obscurities.

Final rating: Two stars (barely).