Country: UK
Sub Genre: Hard Rock, Prog Related
Label: Angel Air
Format: CD
Release date: November 3, 2014
Tracklist:
1. Puppet King
2. Let Me
3. Black Horses
4. Leopard Skin Pie
5. Shades Of Blue
6. The Albatross
7. It’s All Over Now
8. Surfing From Sydney To Marrakech
9. Smokestack Ammunition
10. Eternity
Line-up:
Lynden Williams - vocals
Bob Cooke - guitars
Geoff Downes (Asia, Yes, Buggles) - keyboards
Nick D’Virgilio (Spocks Beard, BBT) - drums
Ashley Cutler - bass
Ollie Hannifan - guitars
Rachel Hall - violin
Description/Reviews:
Proggnosis
"Puppet King" clearly shows off their prog tendencies, with Drury laying down plenty of synth & organ tones alongside Hannifan's blistering riffs. Williams still has a great voice, lending a bluesy touch to the title track and "Leopard Skin Pie" (complete with some soaring violin from Hall), almost sounding a bit like Jethro Tull legend Ian Anderson. "Shades of Blue" is like a meeting of Deep Purple & Kansas, as Downes' heavy Hammond organ saddles up next to Hannifan's heavy riffs and Hall's majestic violin in fine fashion, and "The Albatross" is a thumping blues rocker, reminiscent of Tull's early '90s material. Back to hard charging prog on the excellent "Surfing From Sydney to Marrakech", as Hannifan's crisp riffs provide the punch and Downes' Mellotron & Hammond the majesty, with Williams' catchy vocal melodies drawing the listener in even further. Easily one of the highlights of the album. "Smokestack Ammunition" is a thunderous heavy rocker in the Deep Purple/Uriah Heep vein, and another must hear track on Black Horses, and the lush, meditative "Eternity" takes things out in tranquil fashion, with Williams' gentle vocals supported by layers of keyboards and crisp drums from D'Virgilio.Links:
Black Horses is indeed a very fine release, and even if you've never heard their heavy rocking 1972 debut, chances are if you like modern prog and '70s styled hard rock you'll get a lot of mileage out of this one. One miss here is the drab CD booklet design, which seems more geared towards an album for children than a hard rock & prog audience. (Pete Pardo at seaoftranquility.org)
Proggnosis
I would just like to bring your attention to the fact that this album musically has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the legendary Jerusalem band managed and produced by Ian Gillan. Like the previous release Escalator on Mausoleum, Lynden has just used the name under false pretenses to try and get sales. Even Bob Cooke who appeared on Escalator was against Lynden using the name, which I have in writing. Ray Sparrow and myself were the founding members, we then pulled in Bill Hinde and later on Bob Cooke. Lynden was brought in at a much later date after auditions in London. Lynden's musical contributions to the Jerusalem album were only the lyrics on 3 songs, the music of which I wrote. He was also tutored how to sing the songs. Bob Cooke recently warned me that Lynden was once again going to use the Jerusalem name even though the music bears no relevance to Jerusalem and Bob didn't even perform on it musically. I'm also surprised that a highly professional company like Angel Air Records would have allowed Lynden to use the name and support such a release under that name. If Lynden is not capable and confident enough of releasing music under his own name, but would rather use and abuse the name of a well respected band from 43 years ago that he was fortunate to be part of for a short time, then he shouldn't be releasing music. I am also surprised that he has done it again after Escalator considering the number of fans and followers of the real Jerusalem who found it insulting. Very disappointed.
ReplyDeletePaul Dean - Leader and founding member of Jerusalem