Another record I listened to rarly in this project. before I started this blog. This is one I remember buying in 1975 at Village Records at the Tri-State Mall. Village Records was at the end of the mall with the movie theatre and The Merrie House, where I worked for a while as a cook, across from it. I had never heard of the band but reading the bios on the back cover it looked like a good one and it certainly proved to be. One of my favorites of all time. Five songs of Hard/Progressive Rock. Singer and harmonica player Keith Relf was in The Yardbirds. When they broke up in 1968 Relf and fellow Yardbird Jim McCarty formed Renaissance with Louis Cennamo, who had earlier played bass in The Herd with Peter Frampton, and sister Jane Relf. After two albums players started leaving and eventually Renaissance re-formed with all new members. Relf went on to production work for a while and Cennamo, credited with inventing the electric bowed bass, went on to Steamhammer, a hard Blues Rock band, which also included guitarist Martin Pugh, who had played on Rod Stewart’s first solo record. Steamhammer broke up in 1973 with Keith Relf producing their last record Speech. In late 1974 Relf, Pugh, and Cennamo added American drummer Bobby Caldwell who was in Captain Beyond, an early 70’s band from L.A. which included two ex Iron Butterfly members. The album was released in July of ’75. “Buzzard” starts off with some heavy riffing from Pugh and he keeps it up through the whole song. Relf’s vocals are excellent, clear and loud at one point alternating between left and right speakers. The 8 minute song ends with some of Relf’s harmonica. “Silver Tightrope” is a mellower song, might even be called Shoegaze today. Another 8 minute song Relf’s vocals are light and airy with some acoustic strumming behind. There is a nice pastoral section at about the 4 minute mark with guitar and Cennamo’s bowed bass before picking up the pace again for the final verse before ending with an awesome solo by Pugh. The final track on side one “Paths And Planes And Future Gains” is a Hard Rock song, almost Heavy Metal sounding and at 4:34 is the shortest song on the record. Side two has two songs. “Last Stand Before” another 8 minute song has more guitar riffing throughout with the last half of the song comprising guitar, harmonica and bowed bass trading lines with a driving beat on drums and bass to the fadeout. The 11 minute “Basking In The White Of The Midnight Sun” is divided into 4 parts. The first “Warning Coming On” sounds just like that before exploding into the title section, featuring more of the bowed bass. “Brother Ego” is more Blues sounding with another great solo by Pugh followed by more harmonica before returning for the reprise of the second part. A truly amazing record and one everyone who loves Hard Rock should hear. The only record they made as Relf was electrocuted in May of 1976 while playing a guitar hooked to a faulty amp. Cennamo formed the band Illusion with some former Renaissance members before recording some New-Age type music, Caldwell re-joined Captain beyond and Pugh retired from the business. The record has a bit of a cult following and has been reissued several times. I should replace this one sometime since it’s been played 100s of times but has no skips.