Search - Atomic Rooster :: Master From the Vaults

Rooster rocking Belgium TV

bruceski | FLA United States | 09/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is from a 1970s Belgium TV show. At the time of this live with no audience performance Rooster consisted of Vincent Crane (Keyboards), British Blues singer Chris Farlowe (Vocals) (it appears that Progressive rock bands called on Farlowe just as they were about to call it quits as prior to his gig in Rooster, Farlowe had played on the last albums of Colosseum and wound up doing the same for Rooster), Rick Parnell (Drums), (Parnell later played in the Italian band Ibis, but is perhaps most notable as the final drummer of Spinal Tap- I believe his charector was called Mick Shrimpton) and Steve Bolton on guitar.



This was the lineup that recorded Made in England, although no material from that album is included in this performance. Instead the band mainly sticks to songs off of In Hearing Of... including, Breakthrough, Blake Snake and A Spoonful of Bromide Helps the Pulse Rate Go Down. The other two songs in this performance are Can't Find a Reason (which Vincent eventually couldn't) which wasn't released until the Nice and Greasy Album (called IV in the US) and an instrumental that is listed as The Rock, but might actually be an older tune sometimes called Shabaloo (or maybe it is VUG, its hard to tell the instrumentals apart if you haven't listened in awhile).



The sound and video quality are very good for a mid 70s TV spot. Although, the sounds drops for a about a minute in the final song.



In terms of perfomance, Vincent Crane plays very well throughout the show. For those that might not know, Crane founded Rooster with Carl Palmer after The Crazy World of Arthur Brown began to break up. Crane co-wrote much of The Crazy World's material and was responsible for much of the musicality of that traveling circus of a rock band.



During the second of two brief Crazy World American tours Crane had a breakdown and wound up in a Mental Hospital. Throughout the rest of his life he struggled with bi-polar disorder and utlimatly took his own life after reforming the Rooster a couple of times and even having a brief stint with Dexy's Midnight Runners.



As for the rest of the band, Chris Farlowe seems to peak on the slower numbers (Can't Find a Reason and Blake Snake) as they are the closest to his blues roots and Farlowe does posses a rather authentic sounding set of pipes. He also must have been hungry as he spends one song eating a sandwich!! Steve Bolton is more of a rhythm player than a soloist and lacks the power of previous guitarist John (Du)Cann. Rick Parnell has sort of an interesting presence and at times looks as though he is flailing about to try and keep up, but he certainly adds a rock element to the sound.



The performance is short (28 minutes), but it is some of the only footage of Rooster (there are also 3 performances from the German TV show Beat Club, one of which is of what is generally accepted as the best version of Rooster with Crane, (Du)Cann and the late Paul Hammond on drums doing Tommorow Night, one with DuCann and apparantly Rick Parnell doing Friday the 13th, and one of this version of the band doing a different version of Breakthrough (subsequently they have been released on the Ultimate Anthology, but with the Beat Club videos planted in the middle of the Belgium show interupting the original running order).



Overall, the rarity and quality make these a great buy for fans of 70s prog/hard rock."

Way too short...

Sam | Boston, USA | 08/11/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Great to see these guys doing their magic. Just be aware: it is 28 minutes show."