Cromwell 1975 / Got Kinda Lost 2017
Spur on and spot-on, forgotten heroes of Irish rock lore emerge from collector’s oblivion.
This band wouldn’t make a list of the best music representatives of their country, yet the trio’s only LP became more than money-fetching rarity but a genuine cult classic – deservedly so. Hailed as a proto-metal record, it’s imbued with laughter and infused with comical swagger, and there’s a lot to love here.
Making the listener’s ears prick with a catchy-scratchy guitar of “Ireland (The Wild One)” whose stereo panorama spans into a bluesy buzz, the musicians rein in their tentative heaviness in favor of tasty riff caught in the crosshairs of Patrick Brady’s six and Michael Kiely’s four strings. Given more of those, in orchestral way, pieces such as a piano-propelled “First Day” or instrumental “Hoodwinked” could amount to power ballads, yet once a Jagger-Richards influence has come to light on the slider-sliced “Nothing Left To See” – although “You Got It Made” packs a punch with it – they sail too close to “No Expectations” to get away unscathed.
Still, there’s a solid disco groove the group exercise on “Down On The Town” to detail a few humorous shenanigans of erotic kind, while “Guinness Rock” – the hardest cut on display – is adorned with Éire folk colors, and the sound collage of “Dawson’s Fun Palace” – named after drummer Derek – includes not only a “Danny Boy” singalong but also snippets of the ensemble’s own creations. A few bonus tracks flesh out the album’s original run, with the thunderous “Stomp Stomp Stomp” amping up hysterical mood, so gallop or trot, this record doesn’t fail to find a route to a connoisseur’s heart.
****3/4