Classic Rock Album of the Day- Bachman Turner Overdrive- Not Fragile- (1974) ***
Kind of surprised I haven't reviewed a BTO album here thus far. Oversight I guess. BTO was a huge early to mid 1970's AOR hard rocking outfit that took the "hook" concept to stratsopheric levels. Band came from the turmoil and ashes of The Guess Who. Seems Randy Bachman and Burton Cumming's egos clashed just a few too many times. The tandem of (Randy) Bachman and Cummings were a really good song writing team, and the Guess Who were charting mainstays for much of the early '70's.
But then the inevitable happens when you have a conceptual genre clash. The two wanted to take the group in very different directions. Cummings prefered a softer more mainstream approach, while Randy Bachman wanted to take the hard rock highway (pun-no charge). So Bachman hired his two brothers, Blair Thorton,and Fred Turner, a band mate from from Bachman's project "Brave Belt". The final result was a massively hooked hard, (almost metal) sound that to everyone's surprise eclipsed the ashes of The Guess Who, and sold massively in the mid 1970's. And if I remember correctly, I think BTO was the highest selling and charting Canadian act at that time. Even Neil Young.
BTO had a simple formula... 4 chords, crunching simple licks, and Turner's growl. At the time I loved it, much like Beavis/Butthead liked their bands at the time. Nothing complicated, nothing pretentious...... Just 100 db ear blasting hooking, and crunching, much like their name implies. The band made 9 albums, and of those 9, only 3 are worth adding to your collection... II, Not Fragile, and Four Wheel Drive. For the purpose of doing this review, if I wanted to focus on the LP with the best couple of songs, I'd stuck with II. But as far as a consistent good product, I think "Not Fragile" is half a notch better.
Fun Fact: Was kind of surprised none of BTO's studio albums reached platinum status on sales, considering how big they were in the day. And it is even more strange that this album reached No.1 on the charts, and still fell short of 1M sales. I guess most waited for the "Best of", as it did reach the 1M sales marker.
Side 1-
-------------
Not Fragile- Hits you between eyes with a thundering bass and an almost metal like 2 measure repeat-a-thon melodic line. Evident it is simple and inane that it is musically, still fills the need for that primal metal head in you. Not all music has to meet ELP, Rush, Yes, and Pink Floyd virtuosity standards, and instead this is to a degree just like and in the vein of the spirit of AC/DC. 3
Rock Is My Life, and This Is My Song- Interesting and introspective number on the philosophical aspects and pitfalls of being in a rock and roll band. One thing that struck me, that I didn't realize before is that Randy Bachman's voice sometimes sounds a lot like Randy Newman's. Good standard rocker. 5
Roll On Down the Highway- Even though it was one band's hits off the album, outside aligning the song's theme down to their name'd persona, this is less hooked (strange to say) and is IMO, not one of the better cuts- 8
You A'int Seen Nothing Yet- The biggest hit on the album, and admittedly, I loved it too. Hell.. this song reached No.1 as a freaking single. Forget the grammatical, and the stuttering shtick too. This is power chrording hook magic at its very best. Just proves the "Wild Thing" phenom is a winner every few years. 1
Free Wheelin'- Instrumental that tries, repeat tries to highlight talent much in the intent of the old big band's trade turns a dixieland band try at a gig. Wrong genre, wrong timeframe, both. Nothing really interesting to hear here. Next- 9
Side 2-
-----------
Sledgehammer- Bachman/Turner share the vocals in a nice almost hard rocking blues effort. Best duelng guitar parts on the LP. 4
Blue Moanin'- Blues in a more traditonal version. Not in their best area of expertise. Good try,but falls flat. 7
Second Hand- Mostly overlooked, but I really like how the band strayed just a tad enough to still hook enough, but have enough variability to create something more interesting than their standard fare. 4
Givin' All Away- Ouch, never thought I'd call one of the best songs of an album to a number that on half of the tune, the band intentinally sings off key. But, IMO this is the hidden gem on the on this LP, and is balls to the wall chaotic. Love, how they prologue the with a stealthy "NOT FRAGILE" forcibly spoken, just as a exclamation point, and a nice touch. The BTO was a fun ride. 2
Kind of surprised I haven't reviewed a BTO album here thus far. Oversight I guess. BTO was a huge early to mid 1970's AOR hard rocking outfit that took the "hook" concept to stratsopheric levels. Band came from the turmoil and ashes of The Guess Who. Seems Randy Bachman and Burton Cumming's egos clashed just a few too many times. The tandem of (Randy) Bachman and Cummings were a really good song writing team, and the Guess Who were charting mainstays for much of the early '70's.
But then the inevitable happens when you have a conceptual genre clash. The two wanted to take the group in very different directions. Cummings prefered a softer more mainstream approach, while Randy Bachman wanted to take the hard rock highway (pun-no charge). So Bachman hired his two brothers, Blair Thorton,and Fred Turner, a band mate from from Bachman's project "Brave Belt". The final result was a massively hooked hard, (almost metal) sound that to everyone's surprise eclipsed the ashes of The Guess Who, and sold massively in the mid 1970's. And if I remember correctly, I think BTO was the highest selling and charting Canadian act at that time. Even Neil Young.
BTO had a simple formula... 4 chords, crunching simple licks, and Turner's growl. At the time I loved it, much like Beavis/Butthead liked their bands at the time. Nothing complicated, nothing pretentious...... Just 100 db ear blasting hooking, and crunching, much like their name implies. The band made 9 albums, and of those 9, only 3 are worth adding to your collection... II, Not Fragile, and Four Wheel Drive. For the purpose of doing this review, if I wanted to focus on the LP with the best couple of songs, I'd stuck with II. But as far as a consistent good product, I think "Not Fragile" is half a notch better.
Fun Fact: Was kind of surprised none of BTO's studio albums reached platinum status on sales, considering how big they were in the day. And it is even more strange that this album reached No.1 on the charts, and still fell short of 1M sales. I guess most waited for the "Best of", as it did reach the 1M sales marker.
Side 1-
-------------
Not Fragile- Hits you between eyes with a thundering bass and an almost metal like 2 measure repeat-a-thon melodic line. Evident it is simple and inane that it is musically, still fills the need for that primal metal head in you. Not all music has to meet ELP, Rush, Yes, and Pink Floyd virtuosity standards, and instead this is to a degree just like and in the vein of the spirit of AC/DC. 3
Rock Is My Life, and This Is My Song- Interesting and introspective number on the philosophical aspects and pitfalls of being in a rock and roll band. One thing that struck me, that I didn't realize before is that Randy Bachman's voice sometimes sounds a lot like Randy Newman's. Good standard rocker. 5
Roll On Down the Highway- Even though it was one band's hits off the album, outside aligning the song's theme down to their name'd persona, this is less hooked (strange to say) and is IMO, not one of the better cuts- 8
You A'int Seen Nothing Yet- The biggest hit on the album, and admittedly, I loved it too. Hell.. this song reached No.1 as a freaking single. Forget the grammatical, and the stuttering shtick too. This is power chrording hook magic at its very best. Just proves the "Wild Thing" phenom is a winner every few years. 1
Free Wheelin'- Instrumental that tries, repeat tries to highlight talent much in the intent of the old big band's trade turns a dixieland band try at a gig. Wrong genre, wrong timeframe, both. Nothing really interesting to hear here. Next- 9
Side 2-
-----------
Sledgehammer- Bachman/Turner share the vocals in a nice almost hard rocking blues effort. Best duelng guitar parts on the LP. 4
Blue Moanin'- Blues in a more traditonal version. Not in their best area of expertise. Good try,but falls flat. 7
Second Hand- Mostly overlooked, but I really like how the band strayed just a tad enough to still hook enough, but have enough variability to create something more interesting than their standard fare. 4
Givin' All Away- Ouch, never thought I'd call one of the best songs of an album to a number that on half of the tune, the band intentinally sings off key. But, IMO this is the hidden gem on the on this LP, and is balls to the wall chaotic. Love, how they prologue the with a stealthy "NOT FRAGILE" forcibly spoken, just as a exclamation point, and a nice touch. The BTO was a fun ride. 2
