Search - Atomic Rooster :: Atomic Rooster

Open your ears guys. This is Vincent Crane is playing ...

mike_15 | Fair Lawn, NJ United States | 01/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not going through the review above, which is not true about this album and about Hammond organ wizard Vincent Crane. Carl Palmer is only a good drummer and can not be attraction to this album without Great Vincent Crane. Probably that guy(reviwer) is not into a real ProgRock.
I hope many of you(who know) agree with me and it's good to know for who don't know, that Vincent Crane (RIP) was one of the GREATEST keyboard players of 70th progrock era. He stood in one row with Tony Kaye(YES), Patric Moraz(YES), Rick Wakeman(YES), Keith Emerson(ELP), Jonh Lord(Deep Purple), Ken Hensley(Uriah Heep), Rick van der Linden(Trace) and on and on ... And He was not last in that BIG ROW, where each name is a Hammond Organ Brilliant Master.
From all 5 Atomic Rooster's albums this one is my favorite. Give it a try and you will not be disappointed. I hope Vincent Crane will take the place he really deserves in your heart like he's got in hearts of others and unfairness will be corrected at least this way, because I still can not get it, why this group did not get recognition (BTW many others too)..."

A hint of things to come for Atomic Rooster

Nate Olmos | Los Angeles, CA | 01/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Atomic Rooster's debut album is a showcase for the virtuosic talents of keyboardist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer, the latter defecting afterwards to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer. At this juncture, the band has yet to establish its individual style, but many of the key ingredients are already in place here. Vincent Crane organ playing is already very much accomplished, with its jazz, blues and classical influences very prominent in his solos. The additional overdubbing of guitar parts by future AR guitarist/vocalist John Cann on "Friday the 13th," "Before Tomorrow" and "S.L.Y." help fill out the sound.The songwriting here is tentative compared to on subsequent AR releases. On "Atomic Rooster," the songs are constructed primarily around unison guitar/organ riffs and jazz/blues themes, offering little more than platforms for Crane and Palmer to demonstrate their chops. The instrumentals "Before Tomorrow" and "Decline and Fall" are good examples of this. The former is a modal jam that features Crane wailing away on his Hammond while abusing the wah-wah pedal, before John Cann takes a solo that threatens to burn through both stereo speakers. "Decline and Fall" is a jazz-rock workout showcasing both Crane's and Palmer's chops, Palmer showing off his skills in a drum solo equal to, if not superior, his future efforts with ELP. "Banstead" and "Winter" afford the opportunity for Crane to branch out and incorporate classical influences into Atomic Rooster's songs and give the band its "progressive rock" credentials.The lyrics only hint at the Satanic and death-like imagery that would pervade their followup classic, "Death Walks Behind You. Bassist/vocalist Nick Graham's melodramatic delivery works well on songs such as "Banstead," a depiction of Crane's stay in a mental hosptal. "Winter" is a quiet piece with a melancholy vocal by Graham, highlighted by Crane's jazzy piano and Graham's flute solo. However, on tunes such as "And So to Bed" and "S.L.Y.," Graham's vocal stylistics verge on the parodic, as he veers on the edge of becoming a hack blues-shouter.While most people would buy this album just to hear what Palmer sounded like before he joined ELP, "Atomic Rooster" holds its own. While much of the album sounds tentative in light of what was to come later, the main musical ideas that Crane would develop to the fullest with AR are laid out for everyone to hear."

Tripping through the past

Clyde D. Hoops | Back where I started from in Oceanside California | 10/02/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having formed Atomic Rooster from the recently demised Crazy World of Arthur Brown (of 1968's Fire fame), this was the first release from Vincent Crane, Carl Palmer and Nick Graham



Elements of the time are apparent on such songs like "and so to bed" which is reminiscent of Deep Purple of the time... In Rock, Fireball/ the Nice ...the Nice(1969 album). In general the entire music scene after the demise of the Beatles where searching for the new direction to go. Fortunately for some and unfortunately for others the band never really caught on in the US.



Nick Grahams vocals are best heard on songs like "Broken Wings" as well as the Organ prowess of the late Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer on percussion is really on fire here, less subdued than with ELP



The real surprise about this band is why they never caught on bigger considering the acts that were a going concern at the time, which this band could have held their own against (Savoy Brown, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Pre "Smoke on the Water" Deep Purple).



The band had a long career until the unfortunate death of Vince Crane, and have a very interesting "Heavy" rock catalouge. Very Good, Very Interesting."