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Cherry Red [Release date : 26.04.24]
In 1970, on leaving Deep Purple, bassist/songwriter, Nick Simper, joined Marsha Hunt’s backing band, later striking out on its own under the band name, Warhorse.
In the seventies, Metal and Hard Rock blossomed in the fertile fields of the UK’s everpresent economic woes. Many young people, growing up in this climate, used music as a liberating outlet.
Understandably, in that context, Warhorse’s proto progressive rock/metal was abrasive, aggressive, angsty.
The band released two albums…Warhorse in in 1970 and Red Sea in 1972.
50+ years later, the UK’s Cherry Red Records have added this CD package to their fast expanding catalogue of carefully curated and keenly remastered reissues.
The line up included Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Ashley Holt on vocals. Each had a sense of the dramatic, making them a perfect fit.
And so this double CD set’s 25 tracks (inc 11 bonus) provide glimpses of a time and a place, a stark, musically monochrome illustration of the prevalent mindset in popular music, as it moved out of the sixties into the seventies.
From the debut, ‘Burning’ owed something to the febrile mix of rock and hard edged psychedelia being produced by US band Spirit at the time, and there are hints of Procol Harum’s early Prog/blues direction on ‘No Chance’.
Standout tracks on the follow up album, Red Sea, ‘Confident But Wrong’, a surprisingly honest piece of self reflection, and the much admired title track, talked up by Simper’s erstwhile bandmate, Ritchie Blackmore, showed considerable musical development. A band finding its groove and its direction.
Dropped by the Vertigo label, the band got swiftly swept up by Warners.
In another remarkable piece of unfortunate timing, the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973 threatened (among other things) the production of vinyl. Consequently, the label shut down all current recording sessions, leaving the band with a bunch of demos and nowhere to go.
Wakeman poached singer Ashley Holt and keys man, Barney James for his English Ensemble project and Warhorse folded.
Another archetypal rock band story.
The demos, rescued by Cherry Red, now appear as bonus track across the two CDs. ***
Review by Brian McGowan
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