I like everything they did up to the 1975 "Sabotage", but this is special. Recorded at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles May 1972 - mixing, mastering and overdubs about a month later at Olympic/Trident in London. As the story goes the sessions were chaotic and drug infected - large quantities of cocain delivered at a regular basis and most of the time they were more into doing drugs than music. At time for release "hard rock" was more loosely defined and not a fixed genre with the various sub-genres still to emerge. Although other albums in retrospective fits hard rock IMO this is the one that nails the concept once and for all. Songwriting and performance reminds of earlier efforts, but the outcome is denser and more monotonous. Opening track "Wheels Of Confusion" has bigger part of eight minutes building on one chord and the simplest possible riff. The rest is a little more varied and "Changes" their softest so far, but most of the time it's like being caught in a machine - pumping and grinding. It was a new sound at the time and probably a big inspiration for later bands. One can always guess what helped to create it - a combination of bad trips, chaos and top of the line studio work - but whatever parts involved it's the result that counts and that is great here. Favorite tracks - "Wheels Of Confusion", "Snowblind" and "Under The Sun". Lately there's been a lot of hype among collectors for the premiere UK Vertigo swirl issue (6360071). If you don't care about the label design and just want a complete original I truly recommend the US WB green label instead. It has the same thick f/o cover with picture sheets inside, fantastic audio and you can get a nice copy for a fraction of the price paid for a swirl. (YZÄ*) (BLÄC*)
Last year, I was very lucky to find a very clean copy of the UK Swirl for a low price. I already had the UK spaceship (much scarcer than the Swirl, though not necessarily more collectible). Both are different cuttings and have their own sound, but neither of them are the sonic holy grails that people make em out to be. I've always wondered what this first WB sounds like. Should I ever see a clean one, I'll be sure to try it.
Had the swirl long time ago and was looking for a new one when I found this WB. I don't remember the swirl audio, but since this sounds great to my ears it's all I need for now and don't see the need to update. And it was a bargain for $20 :)
Btw. why does everyone call the pages inside f/o a "booklet"? It's a few frickin sheets - call it what it is!
Last year, I was very lucky to find a very clean copy of the UK Swirl for a low price. I already had the UK spaceship (much scarcer than the Swirl, though not necessarily more collectible). Both are different cuttings and have their own sound, but neither of them are the sonic holy grails that people make em out to be. I've always wondered what this first WB sounds like. Should I ever see a clean one, I'll be sure to try it.
SvaraRaderaHad the swirl long time ago and was looking for a new one when I found this WB. I don't remember the swirl audio, but since this sounds great to my ears it's all I need for now and don't see the need to update. And it was a bargain for $20 :)
SvaraRaderaBtw. why does everyone call the pages inside f/o a "booklet"? It's a few frickin sheets - call it what it is!