VELVET THUNDER

Atomic Rooster are, I suspect, one of those bands that everyone has heard about, but few are deeply familiar with their catalogue. This is despite them being something of a supergroup formed by two former members of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Parmer (of future ELP fame). A very fluid line-up put together five albums between 1969 and 1973 before falling apart. Of these five releases, perhaps just one truly deserves being remembered: 1970’s Death Walks Behind You, put together by what is now considered the ‘classic’ Atomic Rooster line-up of Crane plus guitarist/singer John Du Cann and drummer Paul Hammond. But the band got the itch to reform and Crane and Du Cann got together with session musician Preston Heyman on drums to record 1980’s self-titled album – not to be confused with the near self-titled debut album of 1969 which is called Atomic Roooster with three ‘o’s! That 1980 self-titled album in remastered format forms one half of this two-CD set. It’s nicely paired with a live recording from November of the same year – with Hammond back on the drum stool to reform the classic line-up. That live set consisted of material only from the freshly minted Atomic Rooster and the classic Death Walks Behind You.    

Listen to those early ’70s Atomic Rooster albums and you’ll easily date then to that period – it was the time when heavy blues was transforming into heavy and progressive rock. That sound world was clearly not sellable to an audience in 1980, and the opening track of Atomic Rooster, They Took Control Of You, reveals the band wallowing in the influence of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal), with a sprightly riff that was probably twice as fast as anything they produced in the ‘70s! But, add to that a snarling punkish vocal delivery and the track starts sounding closer to the Calvert-led Hawkwind of the same period than Iron Maiden or others from the NWOBHM stable. Now, what hadn’t changed at all was Crane’s keyboard playing which remained very much organ-based, which meant that sonically the band had one foot in the ‘70s and one in the ‘80s.

That NWOBHM influence is less strong in the rest of the album, and instead the pure punk elements take over in a couple of tracks (Where’s The Show? and Do You Know Who’s Looking For You?). Crane is still going strong on his organ though, so these end up sounding a bit like The Stranglers. In contrast, He Did It Again and Don’t Lose My Mind are more retro, with the former being a decent mid-paced number with a thumping beat, slightly reminiscent of Argent’s Hold Your Head Up, and the latter being in the vein of classic heavy blues merchants Free or Bad Company with a simple but effective guitar riff at its heart.

Perhaps the highlight of Atomic Rooster is In The Shadows, a grinding blues number that evokes the sound world of…well, Atomic Rooster in 1970. It’s got a menacing quality to it, caused by the combination of Crane’s sinister keyboards and Du Cann’s repeatedly spitting out the phrase ‘in the shadows’.  So how do you sum up the musical style of Atomic Rooster easily? It’s quite difficult since it seems to be a mishmash of styles with the band trying manfully to do something ‘modern’ but slipping back into their old habits regularly.

There are a generous eleven bonus tracks that can be split into two groups. The first consists of material recorded in 1980, either early demos of material that made it to the final release, or some that didn’t, and there isn’t much of interest here unless you’re an avid fan. The second group contains demos from 1981, hence what would have been potential material for a follow-up album. Amongst these, the keyboard-drenched boogie End Of The Day is the most impressive. The moody Play It Again and bluesy No Change By Me also show potential to be worked into strong numbers. It’s unfortunate that Du Cann left once again and these songs weren’t developed further.  

The live album comes from a cassette tape source owned by Du Cann that was reportedly recorded via a single onstage microphone. Despite this, the sound quality is surprisingly good and certainly captures the raw power of the group on stage as well as the enthusiastic audience reaction. The concert kicks off with a barnstorming version of They Took Control Of You which powers along with a Hawkwind-style wall of sound. It’s hard to believe that this was just a trio with Crane also playing bass pedals.  Equally impressive from the new material was a ten-minute version of In The Shadows. Live, the similarities between that song and the equally bludgeoning title track from Death Walks Behind You are evident. This might have been 1980 but Crane and Du Cann couldn’t resist getting down to some jamming. Both Seven Sisters and Gershatzer are extended with instrumental jams, as does I Can’t Take No More which is nearly three times as long as the original studio version. 

Atomic Rooster never released an official live album, so this Marquee set is a precious testament of the classic line-up playing at the tip of their game. The combination of the solid Atomic Rooster studio album with this blistering live set makes this album essential listening for existing fans and a good starting point for those who want a good introduction to the band.