Listened to Epic Forest and Somebody's Watching today, and these are really great records. Maybe Traffic like? I dunno, but this "guitar-centered" version of Rare Bird is a bit more "timeless" than the Charisma dual keyboard version. Infinitely listenable, great songwriting, Gould's voice is a British classic. This is the good stuff.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
A Bird of a different feather from the Charisma-era species, but not without its own rewards. Gould, indeed, is a terrific singer, and Epic Forest a good album, but SW misses the mark for me.
Last edited by mogrooves; 12-13-2012 at 08:37 PM.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Like em all.
Loved Gould as a singer.
Epic Forest is one of my favorite rock albums.
Last edited by Camelogue; 12-13-2012 at 09:51 PM.
Epic Forest is fab. The percussive, guitar-centric sound reminded me of Santana a bit, although this is clearly the product of an English band. Lots of excellent songs on this one: “Title No. 1 Again” is one of my all-time favourites and the title track just soars. Great vocal harmonies throughout; Steve Gould is one of the greats and I like the harmonies/co-leads by new bassist Paul Karas. A shame he didn’t stick with the band longer.
Somebody’s Watching was a big letdown after such an illustrious predecessor. I really wanted to like it but I found it to be extremely uninspired and lackluster all round. I actually thought that Born Again, though overall more of a straight pop-rock album, was much better; stronger performances, better songs, better all round. “Last Tango in Beulah” alone makes this a must.
-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock
N.P.:“Inamorata and Narration by Conrad Roberts”-Miles Davis/Live Evil
I've only heard a compilation of the Polydor era of this band... Can't remember much from it, coz it was at least 15 yearsago...
I'm not a big fan of RB, but generally the first two are the more reputed
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I much prefer the original RB, but Epic Forest is very good. After that, not so much. Gould's voice was not as strong as in the early days.
I discovered "Beautiful Scarlet" taping music off the radio (CHUM fm '70s). Took me years to find out who it was and finding the album.
Worth the time and the trouble.still have it. (heading to record player now.....)
Beautiful Scarlet was covered by several other groups, including Swegas and Capability Brown. I wonder if you got the right one...Originally Posted by tom unbound
I discovered "Beautiful Scarlet" taping music off the radio (CHUM fm '70s). Took me years to find out who it was and finding the album.
Worth the time and the trouble.
I've long been a fan of the first two albums, so when I first heard the second version of the band I was gruesomely disappointed.
However, over time I've grown to appreciate Epic Forest for what it is, although I regard this Rare Bird as a different band than the first one and don't even hear much similarity between Steve Gould's voice on the first couple of records and the subsequent stuff. Still haven't got into Somebody's Watching - a very tired record, IMO, and the reason I still haven't heard the last one, Born Again.
We recently had a wonderfully clean used vinyl copy of Epic Forest come thru the record store where I work part-time.
Wow, so little love for Somebody's Watching. Give it another whirl. Not as good as Epic Forest (and not that many albums are), but still a very even record, very much in the "Polydor Era" mold.
FWIW dept, there are a couple songs on Epic Forest that must have been direct influences on Opeth's Damnation. Uncanny!
Last edited by strawberrybrick; 12-18-2012 at 08:59 PM.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
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