Classic Rock Album of the Day- Captain Beyond- Self Titled- 1972- *
I'll start today's review with a riddle... What do you get when you mix certain elements of Deep Purple, Iron butterfly, and J. Winter's lineup? A pile of hot steaming poo. When I saw in my Circus Magazine that this new band was being formed from these 3 good bands, I was pretty excited and thought it might be pretty decent purchase. Well, I foolishly plopped down my $5.99 in '72 or '73, and was absolutely floored on how shitty this thing was. I was livid at the time, because $5.99 + tax at the time was a hell of a lot of money for this 15 year old kid in 1972.
As you probably are surmising so far, this was an ill conceived noting that it should have never happened in the first place. I learned a valid lesson that what are likely outcasts from excellent groups doesn't necessarily translate to a good LP. I started noticing that wear on LP's on my records in my record collection are directly correlatable to how good they were. And this album people, was pristine. This also was the album I finally decided to make sure I got a good listen on KAAY's Beaker Street before future investments This band's stuff was not on Clyde Clifford's playlist.... and for good reason.
The band, the album, and for that matter the stylistic conceptual point was ill conceived. I hear shitty like James Gang licks, Pink Floyd insipid spacey imitations, second rate Purple Butterfly mishmashed metering and vocal pattern. It was really strange hearing it again 50+ years later for the second time. And it sure didn't seem any better. My best description? Aimless unprogressive prog. And even at times like a piss poor Skynrd cover band.
Fun Fact- I know there are some niche like fans of this band out there, but to me the fact that this group made 3 studios albums, just shows how low the bar was for record companies in the day. For Every Led Zep IV and Who's Next, there were 50 of these. I spent about 10 minutes googling whether any of these 3 charted, but after 10 minutes, I either came up empty, or honestly really didn't give a shit.
Normally, I like reviewing good music. But for some reason I felt like venting, and this review is kind of my revenge, much like a highly pissed off Yelp Reviewer. For anyone who thought Asia was the worst conceived supergroup? Nope- Try this one. This is something like if Don Henley, Trent Reznor, and Joey Ramone all collaborated. Begs asking why.
Side 1-
------------
Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air)- The only listenable song on the album. Some decent improv like jam. 1
Armworth- Filler
Myopic Void- Joe Walsh should have sued. Filler!!!!!
Mesmerization Eclipse- A tad better than filler. What a song would sound like if Purple and Skynrd had a baby. Don't laugh... I'm not. 3
Raging River of Fear- Phasing wise, maybe the most Butterfly sounding tune on the LP. 2
Side 2-
----------------
Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro) - Prog side begins and is ultra filler-
Frozen Over- Nope. Most purple sounding contribution, but sucks. Blackmore had to be laughing his ass off.
Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)- Hush!! Hush!!! (literally)
I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part I)- I love it when song titles are sarcastically apt.
As the Moon Speaks (to the Waves of the Sea)-
. This one would make Spinal Tap cringe in parodic horror.
Astral Lady- I won't get that 16 seconds back.
As the Moon Speaks (Return)- When 7 song titles need parentheses, you get the idea, that even they knew further clarification was needed to explain this shit.
I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part 2)- I find the hilarity is epic when a song this bad requires two parts.
I'll start today's review with a riddle... What do you get when you mix certain elements of Deep Purple, Iron butterfly, and J. Winter's lineup? A pile of hot steaming poo. When I saw in my Circus Magazine that this new band was being formed from these 3 good bands, I was pretty excited and thought it might be pretty decent purchase. Well, I foolishly plopped down my $5.99 in '72 or '73, and was absolutely floored on how shitty this thing was. I was livid at the time, because $5.99 + tax at the time was a hell of a lot of money for this 15 year old kid in 1972.
As you probably are surmising so far, this was an ill conceived noting that it should have never happened in the first place. I learned a valid lesson that what are likely outcasts from excellent groups doesn't necessarily translate to a good LP. I started noticing that wear on LP's on my records in my record collection are directly correlatable to how good they were. And this album people, was pristine. This also was the album I finally decided to make sure I got a good listen on KAAY's Beaker Street before future investments This band's stuff was not on Clyde Clifford's playlist.... and for good reason.
The band, the album, and for that matter the stylistic conceptual point was ill conceived. I hear shitty like James Gang licks, Pink Floyd insipid spacey imitations, second rate Purple Butterfly mishmashed metering and vocal pattern. It was really strange hearing it again 50+ years later for the second time. And it sure didn't seem any better. My best description? Aimless unprogressive prog. And even at times like a piss poor Skynrd cover band.
Fun Fact- I know there are some niche like fans of this band out there, but to me the fact that this group made 3 studios albums, just shows how low the bar was for record companies in the day. For Every Led Zep IV and Who's Next, there were 50 of these. I spent about 10 minutes googling whether any of these 3 charted, but after 10 minutes, I either came up empty, or honestly really didn't give a shit.
Normally, I like reviewing good music. But for some reason I felt like venting, and this review is kind of my revenge, much like a highly pissed off Yelp Reviewer. For anyone who thought Asia was the worst conceived supergroup? Nope- Try this one. This is something like if Don Henley, Trent Reznor, and Joey Ramone all collaborated. Begs asking why.
Side 1-
------------
Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air)- The only listenable song on the album. Some decent improv like jam. 1
Armworth- Filler
Myopic Void- Joe Walsh should have sued. Filler!!!!!
Mesmerization Eclipse- A tad better than filler. What a song would sound like if Purple and Skynrd had a baby. Don't laugh... I'm not. 3
Raging River of Fear- Phasing wise, maybe the most Butterfly sounding tune on the LP. 2
Side 2-
----------------
Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro) - Prog side begins and is ultra filler-
Frozen Over- Nope. Most purple sounding contribution, but sucks. Blackmore had to be laughing his ass off.
Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)- Hush!! Hush!!! (literally)
I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part I)- I love it when song titles are sarcastically apt.
As the Moon Speaks (to the Waves of the Sea)-
. This one would make Spinal Tap cringe in parodic horror.Astral Lady- I won't get that 16 seconds back.
As the Moon Speaks (Return)- When 7 song titles need parentheses, you get the idea, that even they knew further clarification was needed to explain this shit.
I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part 2)- I find the hilarity is epic when a song this bad requires two parts.
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