Search - Atomic Rooster :: In Hearing

In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster

09/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, in our whereabouts (and I was born behind the Iron Curtain) In Hearing of Atomic Rooster (which appeared in a timely Polish edition) was really a very big thing. Not in sales, because it was all copied on reels from friends, but as for impact it made on our minds. It is one of few artists of genuine desperation and world angst. It made you really feel the pain and sadness of being in this world. It had a existentialist grip of few other disks of what is called pop, accompanied with genuine blues "devil" (Robert Johnson type) feeling (nothing to do with posh satanism). Every track in this album is diamond. I steel keep dear my old LP. There is surely nothing similar to it in the modern pop music. It is not heavy, it is not rock, it is sheer genius of two young musicians who are no longer with us to try to explain how they did it."

Great third album from Atomic Rooster

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 06/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Why haven't I tried Atomic Rooster much earlier? They are a band I heard of forever, been aware of forever that Carl Palmer was in this band before ELP (he only appeared on Rooster's debut album before jumping ship to ELP), and I even remembered a local Eugene, Oregon radio station (KRVM) playing "Black Snake" and "Head in the Sky" back in 1994 on a prog rock-oriented program called Deep Water Melodies.



OK, so In Hearing Of was their third album with just as many lineup changes. Now the band included vocalist ex-Cactus vocalist Pete French alongside guitarist John Cann, organist Vincent Crane, and drummer Paul Hammond. Many people call Death Walks Behind You as their high point, and while I have yet to try that album if In Hearing Of is anything to go by, I'm going to be in for a real treat for that album.



Anyway, this is a truly wonderful combination of hard rock and prog, certain to please fans of both, as the opening cut "Breakthrough" demonstrates, with some great piano and organ work, and some nice bluesy vocals. "Break the Ice" features some truly guitar guitar riff from Cann himself, and more great organ work from Crane. "Decision / Indecision" is a piano-oriented ballad which is not typical for the album, but works fine. "A Spoonful of Bromide Helps the Pulse Rate Go Down" (luckily not a parody of "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down" from Mary Poppins) is an instrumental piece and by far the most traditionally prog-oriented piece. "Black Snake" is a truly nice mellow number, dominated by Crane's organ work, while the band rocks once again with "Head in the Sky". "The Rock" is the album's other instrumental piece, with some Chicaco or Blood, Sweat & Tears-like horns (arranged by yours truly, Vincent Crane), imagine if those two bands sounded more like Atomic Rooster, this is what you get. The CD reissue also includes their hit single, "Devil's Answer", still an excellent song, even if includes Chicago or BS&T-like horns. Oddly, the American LP on Elektra has this on In Hearing Of, but not the British vinyl, so basically if you own the CD reissue with "Devil's Answer", you got the complete American LP. I guess Elektra wisely knew the American audience was not as likely to buy singles so that's why they tagged "Devil's Answer" to the end of side one of the LP (right after "A Spoonful of Bromide").



What's also interesting is the cover is by Roger Dean, perhaps one of his most down-to-earth covers, it bears so little resemblance to the Yes album covers he's best known for, but then Roger Dean had done covers that looked little like Yes album covers like Babe Ruth's First Base (1972) and Gracious' This Is... (1971).



This is an excellent album and a must have."