Search - Captain Beyond :: DAWN EXPLOSION (Original Recording Remastered)

DAWN EXPLOSION (Original Recording Remastered)
Captain Beyond
DAWN EXPLOSION (Original Recording Remastered)
Genres: Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1

In 1977, our super heroes of prog rock, Captain Beyond, regrouped and released their third album Dawn Explosion - considered by many fans to be a very solid comeback album. It also proved to be the quartet s final swan son...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Captain Beyond
Title: DAWN EXPLOSION (Original Recording Remastered)
Members Wishing: 7
Total Copies: 0
Label: Friday Music
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 9/9/2008
Genres: Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal
Styles: Progressive, Progressive Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 829421108726

Synopsis

Product Description
In 1977, our super heroes of prog rock, Captain Beyond, regrouped and released their third album Dawn Explosion - considered by many fans to be a very solid comeback album. It also proved to be the quartet s final swan song during the classic rock era.

No holds barred, their new label Warner Brothers Records was quick in sending a strong message to the radio and retailer community, with the succession of merchandising materials that pre-promoted this fine release. An excerpt from one promotional poster at the time reads:

Captain Beyond is getting promoted. By airplay. By word of mouth. By its brand new record company. And rightly so. These ex-members of Johnny Winter and Iron Butterfly, whose first two albums left 300,000 people breathless, have made a bold new album. It s called DAWN EXPLOSION. So, when you hear about Captain Beyond s promotion, don t be surprised. THIS IS A MAJOR ROCK BAND WE RE TALKING ABOUT.

With newly enlisted lead vocalist Willy Daffern replacing Rod Evans of Deep Purple fame, the core original band members, Rhino (Iron Butterfly), Bobby Caldwell (Johnny Winter), and Lee Dorman (Iron Butterfly), put their creative energies together and nailed down an incredible grand finale fit for a king.

Along with their solid producer John Stronach, Captain Beyond s final sessions were recorded and mixed at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California in 1977.

Dawn Explosion netted them decent airplay throughout North America. Memorable tracks like the crowd pleasing opener Do or Die and the powerful Icarus, and the rocking Fantasy were staples on coveted play lists around the states, which also helped score them a tour to help support the album.

To this day, Captain Beyond s Dawn Explosion has had an active afterlife due to the undying support of fans and outlets like satellite and internet radio that still play all of their albums. Prog rock truly wins hands down with this historic release on Friday Music. The folks at Friday Music have gone back into the Warner Music vaults and have found the original session tapes, while providing you the listener with the best sounding version of this disc ever! Impeccably remastered by Joe Reagoso (Deep Purple, Johnny Winter), Dawn Explosion finally gets the royal treatment it deserves with this new edition.

Rock On!

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CD Reviews

This is a great album!
H. P. Keable | Chicago, IL | 01/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't think any band could follow the sheer brilliance that Captain Beyond gave the musical world with their debut, but I think this album is a very respectable effort and it's always been a big favorite of mine. Willie Daffern has a great voice, just different from Rod Evans is all, and all the naysayers just aren't being open-minded. In fact hearing him on this record made me seek out anything else that he might have lent his voice to, and there's precious little that I can find: Gary Moore's

G-Force album, Pipedream (with Tim Bogert!), and a solo LP under the name Willie Dee. Too bad, I think he has a classic voice.



But back to this record: I think it's way better than the more laid back Sufficiently Breathless, and I can't help but wonder if that's due to the return of Bobby Caldwell. Even without attempting some more of those great odd time signatures that are all over the debut, there are some great tracks here, with "Do or Die" and "Fantasy" being two standouts.



Compared to the first record or not, you can't go wrong with this one.

Willie D, where are you, man?!!"
A Very Good Comeback...
Chuck Potocki | Highland, Indiana | 09/17/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

""Dawn Explosion" was a very good comeback for Captain Beyond; armed with a new record deal with Warner Brothers & a new singer with Willy Daffern, the band was on a mission to come back strong, & in their way, they definitely succeeded. However, the wind of change was blowing hard through the music industry at the time of its' 1977 release with disco dominating the pop charts on one side & punk dominating the underground on the other. Classic & especially prog-rock bands like Captain Beyond were then regarded as dinosaurs & has-beens, so despite being a fine album, "Dawn Explosion" was caught in the middle & vanished without a trace. Had it been released a few years earlier, this might not have been the case.



New vocalist Willy Daffern's voice boasts a more throaty rock & roll voice & does some serious screaming at times on the album which is in direct contrast to the long departed original vocalist Rod Evans. The band had returned to its' original core lineup of guitarist Rhino, drummer Bobby Caldwell & bassist Lee Dorman for this release, & as was the case on their previous 1973 release "Sufficiently Breathless", the emphasis is once again on straight ahead song structures with only an occasional tip of the hat to the odd time signatures & prog-rock leanings that dominated their classic 1972 debut.



Most of the songs are good, with only "If You Please" not being a particular favorite of mine; its' subject matter dealing with, of all things, choosing your career path; it even includes a reference to being a paramedic! Needless to say, I generally skip over this one when listening to the whole album. The closest the band gets to recapturing the feel of their first album is "Space Interlude".



All in all, this is a good album but unfortunately was the last for the band. Should this be the last we hear from Captain Beyond, then they've gone out in a great way. On a side note, Amazon lists this as being a "box set", "enhanced disc" & "hybrid" for some reason, but it's not. It's definitely a single disc, & the "remastered" part is probably true."
Good album
Purplepeople8ers | USA | 12/31/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rod Evans is sorely missed here, but the music is still there. If you have the first two albums then well you just got to have this one also. Why? Well just because it might cause a shift in the dimensions from Beyond. I like the begining of "Icarus". "Fantasy" will stick in your mind. It rocks. "Breath of Fire Part 1" is okay. I like "If You Please" I think this might have been a hit on the Radio if they played it. "Midnight Memories" is a nice love song. The Captain ends with a spacey instrumental followed by "Oblivian" a rockin Instrumental then closes with another Spacey instrumental. It isn't as good as the first two but it is okay in its own way."