Tag Archives: Chrysalis Records

Classic Rock, Genre, Progressive Rock, Song Reviews

Jethro Tull – The Witch’s Promise (Song Review)

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“Lend me your ear while I call you a fool”

I’ve always been a sucker for a bit of folk and fantasy in my rock so I instantly fell in love with The Witch’s Promise the moment I saw Jethro Tull’s 1970 performance of it on Top Of The Pops (as part of the 1993 BBC series Sounds Of The Seventies). It took me years to find it on an album but luckily I videotaped the show so I could continue to partake of the song’s wonderful vocal melodies and lush layers of acoustic guitars, flute and keyboards. It had the swinging, hippy pop style of the band’s early material but The Witch’s Promise also pointed the way forward to the folkier, singer/songwriter focus and lush orchestrations of Jethro Tull’s future work. It was a watershed track that introduced me to one of my favourite bands and, by extension, the wider world of folk and prog rock. And it still bewitches me to this day.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

UFO – Too Much Of Nothing (Song Review)

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“One of life’s delinquents”

HMO salutes Pete Way who has sadly just passed away aged 69. He’d played in a few different acts and as a solo artist but round these parts he’ll always be the iconic, polka-dotted delinquent in UFO. I’d usually use a post like this to highlight some sort of instrumental prowess but he wasn’t really that kind of player. His main thing was being larger than life. Cool as fuck outfits. Cool as fuck posing. But that’s not to put down his musical abilities. His playing gave UFO’s songs a good kick up the arse and he was a talented writer too. Check out Too Much Of Nothing. It’s a rare example of a UFO tune that was solely written by Way. Taken from their 1975 album Force It, it’s a dirty down-trodden rocker with a carefree lift in its chorus. And there’s a good bit of the Way persona in the lyrics: overdoses, habits, just rolling along. It’s not one of the band’s standout moments but it’s a great deep cut and it holds its own on an album that is stacked to the gills with classics. So there was more to Way than just throwing shapes. But still… there’s a reason I own a Firebird bass. Because Pete Way was cool as fuck.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

UFO – Phenomenon (Album Review)

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UFO – Phenomenon (1974)

With two studio albums behind them, UFO took off in 1974 with the recruitment of the German mad axeman Michael Schenker and the release of their excellent third album Phenomenon.

The spacey tendencies of the band’s earlier work remain in the cosmic balladry of tracks like Space Child and Crystal Light and vocalist Phil Mogg shines on these mellower tracks. But Schenker shows what he can do on the album’s rockers: peppering opener Oh My with fluid leads,  chugging infectiously on Doctor Doctor and offering up a veritable guitar goldmine on Rock Bottom. Side two is less memorable but contains two highlights in the majestic Queen Of The Deep and Too Young To Know: a great example of the kind of ultra-catchy storytelling rock that would become the band’s speciality.

More accomplished albums would follow and cement UFO’s place as classic rock giants but Phenomenon more than lives up to the promise of its titular billing with its raw and innocent mix of riffy, trippy boogie. It’s a big favourite of mine and has a uniquely proto-metal place in the UFO discography. Essential listening if you enjoy the early outings of Priest, Scorpions and Budgie and want to hear the development of a style that would be heard later, louder and heavier, in the output of NWOBHM bands such as Maiden, Saxon and Diamond Head.

[UFO – Queen Of The Deep]

*note that older versions have ‘Oh My’ swap sides with ‘Too Young To Know’ (also occasionally mis-spelled as ‘Too Young To No’!)