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BGO Records www.bgo-records.com [Release date 13.10.23]
I have to say that I’ve only known Paladin from digging through crates of vinyl at record fairs and noting the Roger Dean artwork. It all looked a bit prog. Now the band’s only two albums have been remastered on 2 CDs. And they’re very good.
The opener on Disc One, the debut album Paladin released in 1971, is a brilliant jam track ‘Bad Times’. It is led by Peter Solley’s Hammond and backed with Derek Foley’s syncopated guitar. It brings to mind early Santana and even Focus and the free spirit of ‘Anonymus’. Solley and drummer Keith Webb played in Terry Reid’s backing band in the 1960s before forming the band.
Paladin weren’t afraid to display their musical prowess with a long instrumental ‘Dance Of The Cobra’ although perhaps “of its day’ with an extended drum solo. Apparently this was even more extended in the live context. It was, after all, the early seventies!
A percussive backbeat is evident on ‘Third World’ which features an almost rap vocal but unfortunately is an unwelcome distraction. This is redeemed by ‘Fill Up Your Heart’ which features more of that great guitar/organ interplay and with a definite early Santana feel.
Any band continuity was effectively scuppered with the departure of pianist/vocalist Lou Stonebridge and Derek Foley around the time of the second album release in early 1972.
Charge! (1972) moved up a notch in terms of production with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick at the helm. It would be easy to class Paladin as “prog’ but in truth they are more varied than that.
Again the second album had the jam-tracks like ‘Give Me Your Hand’ (reminding a little of Caravan in places), and ‘Get One Together’ (Santana?), whilst ‘Anyway’ sounds like ELO and ‘Good Lord’ could be the Allmans. ‘Watching The World Pass By’ is perhaps the most proggy with a folky mid-section before Foley jams out a great finale.
The mixing of British and Transatlantic styles (The Band and Little Feat also come to mind) should have at least ensured the band’s passage to the States but by late 1972 they had disbanded.
Bass guitarist Pete Beckett would find fame with Player and a U.S. No.1 single in 1978 whilst Stonebridge joined McGuinness Flint and did session/production work. Peter Solley subsequently joined Snafu and Procol Harum, later early Whitesnake, then became a producer. Webb and Foley have since passed away, and Solley in November 2023. The band did come back together for the album ‘Jazzattack’ in 2002 which saw them revisiting (and re-recording) former glories.
It’s a pity BGO didn’t secure bonus tracks (other than the non-album single, the pub-rocker-ish ‘Sweet Sweet Music’) as several BBC sessions are known to exist. But, as an introduction to a somewhat overlooked band, this new package is very welcome. As ever, well packaged including informative liner notes. ***1/2
Review by David Randall
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