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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

Alan White - Ramshackled Reissue

Reviewed by: Jason Carzon
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: England
Language: English
Length: 40 Min.
Release Date: Re-Release-February 28, 2006
Label:
Wounded Bird Records
Band Members: Alan White: drums, percussion Peter Kirtley: guitars, vocals
  Colin Gibson: bass, percussion Kenny Craddock: keyboards, vocals
  Alan Marshall: vocals Bud Beadle: solo sax, flute
  Andy Phillips: steel drum Steve Gregory: added tenor sax, flute
  Henry Lowther: trumpet Madeleine Bell: backing vocals
  Joanne Williams: backing vocals Vicky Brown: backing vocals
     
Track Listing: 1.)- Ooooh Baby (Goin To Pieces) 8.)-Everybody
  2.)-One Way Rag 9.)-Darkness (Parts I, II, III)
  3.)- Avakak  
  4.)- Spring-Song Of Innocence  
  5.)- Giddy  
  6.)-Silly Woman  
  7.)Marching Into A Bottle  
     
The Review

In the mid-70's, the five members of YES released a solo album each between 1975-76. These were known at the time as YESSOLOS. This was after RELAYER album, while Swiss maestro Patrick Moraz was still in the group. Each album was to be viewed as one part of a whole(the band) and they were: Steve Howe's guitar-song showcase, BEGINNINGS- Chris Squire's elegant FISH OUT OF WATER- Moraz' classical/Brazillian/fusion masterwork, THE STORY OF 'I'- Jon Anderson's spacey and mystical OLIAS OF SUNHILLOW, and this, Alan White's first and only solo album. This one is getting reviewed because it's the one that had never seen a CD release before outside of Japan briefly.***

This is for mostly YES collectors, but RAMSHACKLED is one album I may have hated at first and grew to like a bit of it later on. Of the five YESSOLOS, this is the least Yes-like and the one that doesn't age too well. It is a product of the 70's, and has more of a Santana/Blood Sweat & Tears/Joe Cocker type 70's boogie rock sound during the most radio-friendly parts. Most of the vocals are close to the soulful rasp of Ritchie Havens, so be forwarned. However, when the classic progressive styles try to take over, you get a nice organ & guitar driven proto-prog sound not unlike FLASH or MAINHORSE, other pre-Yes or Yes offshoots. It's easy to ignore some tasteful playing with songs that have titles like 'OOOH BABY' and 'SILLY WOMAN'. White's drumming is no different than on RELAYER or TALES or GOING FOR THE ONE, just in a different context. The same brew of technique and emotion which are Alan's trademark style is in no short supply. Again, it's easy to dismiss this as forgotten 70's drivel and imply that White only made a solo record because everyone else in YES was. In fact, this an hardly be seen as a 'proper' solo album at all: Alan has no writing credit on any of these tracks whatsoever and is merely the drummer on his own project. So this would be more of a 'project' than an actual solo release. Alan's role on RAMSHACKLED is that of bandleader and producer(yes, he at least produced his album). He even shares percussion duties with another percussionist on some bits. And you'll probably go through a period of disliking this album before realising as I just did that it's not that bad. There's some great drumming throughout, and they go through a lot of different styles as well. And of course one track has Anderson and Howe. Can't go wrong there. The tracks are:

OOOH BABY(Going To Pieces):

Percussion and organ dominate this opening track which recalls outfits like Blood Sweat & Tears and the like. I swear those vocals are almost Ritchie Havens. Add some Latin-ish percussion and you have something out from the back alley instead of from one of those Roger Dean floating islands.***

ONE WAY RAG:

Jangley-piano boogie number with a bit of funky sway, and probably would not have sounded out of place on AM radio back in the 70's. Nice background vox and a sax solo too.***

AVAKAK: some classic progressive instrumentation on this fusion instrumental. Here's where White and his band's jazz side takes hold. Expressive piano, horns, percussion, organ, guitar. This is probably more complicated to play than it sounds. There's a brief dip into Zappa-esque absurdity(Chunga's Revenge) in the middle and goes into a jazzy workout which climaxes with the sound of something splattering against the wall. I'm not going to ask what.***

SPRING - SONG OF INNOCENCE:

This gentle ballad features lyrics taken from a William Blake poem. The tinkling piano and flutes merge well with guests Jon Anderson and Steve Howe. Here, the gentle twang of Howe's restrained guitar and Anderson's somewhat also mellow vocal take bring to life the pastoral atmosphere of this track in a way nobody else can. Anderson in particular sounds naive and somewhat less confident, bringing to mind his sound on the first two YES albums. This almost sounds like a first take. And if it isn't, credit to these guys for capturing the spirit of the young YES and the overall poem as well.***

GIDDY:

A thankfully short track which doesn't age well at all. Nice dated moog solo though. The lyrics are a thousand miles away from SIBERIAN KHATRU. A throwaway track no doubt.***

SILLY WOMAN:

A somewhat John Lennon vibe with a reggae swagger which gets into your head whether you want it too or not. You can see footage of Alan and his temporary band playing this on the old YESYEARS video from 1991. This track I can see Jimmy Buffet doinbg this one.***

MARCHING INTO A BOTTLE:

Some classical guitar and flute for this short and pleasant instrumental interlude. This isn't too far off from Steve Howe's title track on BEGINNINGS.***

EVERYBODY:

Funky track with a Captain Beefheart feel maybe. I'm glad Alan joined YES instead of some bar band back in the 70's, because he could have ended up doing things like this.***

DARKNESS(part 1, 2 & 3):

The last track is a little more involved than some of that rock & boogie stuff elsewhere on the album. There's some good instrumentation which goes through some YES, Nektar and Zappa moods in various sections. Some horns, acoustic guitar and orchestration enhance the overall song. Not sure what Alan was thinking with this album. Perhaps he felt that he really wasn't a strong 'solo' artist and got a bunch of friends and ex-bandmates to knock out that obligatory 'YESSOLO'. Anyway, I'm sure that he could deliver a strong solo album these days if he put his mind to it. He's responsible for a lot of Yes material which I understand he never gets proper credit for, including IN THE PRESENCE OF, MIND DRIVE and others. In the meantime, I'll look forward to his new band 'WHITE' which also features Geoff Downes.***

This album should be in the YES fan's collection if only just to have it. But if you venture to hear it, you'll hear not only a dated product of the mid-70's, but some decent stuff as well which is the closest to recapture the early vibe of the first two YES albums, and Alan wasn't even on those. If you can get past the sloppy pub-rock of tracks like GIDDY, that is.

 

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