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Blonde on Blonde - Rebirth (1970)

Track listing:
  1. Castles in The Sky 3:26
  2. Broken Hours 3:41
  3. Heart Without a Home 5:27
  4. Time is Passing 2:39
  5. Circles 7:23
  6. November 3:08
  7. Colour Questions 12:06
  8. You'll Never Know 4:54
  9. Release 2:50

Notes

Japan 24-Bit Remastering

Named after the title of Bob Dylan's 1965 album, this short-lived and little known Welsh outfit stands as one of the better 'unknown' bands. Even though they enjoyed strong reviews from music critics and achieved massive exposure playing before gigantic crowds at the 1969 Isle of Wight festival (coincidently headlined by Dylan), they never managed to generate much in the way of sales. Best of all - their three albums sported a tremendously talented guitarist in Gareth Johnson.

Formed in Newport, South Wales in 1967, the initial Blonde On Blonde line-up featured the talents of singer/guitarist Ralph Denyer, drummer Les Hicks, bassist/keyboard player Richard Hopkins and guitarist Johnson. Convinced they could make it in the big leagues, in 1968 the quartet packed up their gear, leaving Wales for London. Playing clubs such as London's Middle Earth generated a groundswell of publicity, with Pye Records eventually signing the band.

Contrasts, released in 1969 and produced by Barry Murray, has been described as progressive. To some degree, that's a major misnomer and disservice to the band. While there are some true progressive leanings, the majority of the set is simply too diverse to be dumped under such a broad and meaningless genre. These guys rather effortlessly manage to cover a wide range of genres, including hard rock (the leadoff jam Ride With Captain Max), folk (Island On An Island), psych (Johnson's Spinning Wheel sports a great sitar solo), and conventional pop (Jeanette Isabella and Goodbye - the latter featuring a beautiful harpsichord-propelled melody which would have made for a wonderful radio hit). Elsewhere, the album included a pair of the Robin Williamson covers No Sleep Blues and a blazing, feedback propelled I Need My Friend. A personal favorite was Denyer's hysterical Conversationally Making The Grade. Among the few blatant missteps was a needless horn enhanced cover of The Beatles Eleanore Rigby.

1970's Rebirth was released in the wake of a heavy touring schedule and a massive personal upheaval that saw singer/guitarist Ralph Denyer replaced by school friend David Thomas. (For some reason bassist Hopkins was also credited as 'Richard John'.) In the role of lead vocalist, Thomas was considerably more talented than his predecessor. The extra firepower provided by Thomas' versatile chops was apparent in the form of a tougher, rock oriented sound. That said, like the debut, their sophomore set was fairly varied, including stabs at Moody Blues-styled ballads (Castles In The Sky), progressive romps (You'll Never Know Me/Release) and fuzz-propelled rockers (November). As before, Johnson's versatile guitar provided many of the highlights - check out his scorching solos on Circle and Colour Question.