Bronco (1972) Sudden Street - LOST 70s GEMS

 From British Country Rock band Bronco's second and more arranged album, Sudden Street is their finest offering marrying frontman Jess Roden's requisite vocal style with an impeccable 60s folk rock structure. It reminds me of the 60s band, Love, with it's Latin folk feel as the acoustic guitar led rhythm goes from soft and gentle to upbeat and fervent The lead vocal by Jess Roden is extraordinary, a bluesy tenor that aches and cracks so soulfully in a style I used to describe as 'Torn and Frayed' after the Rolling Stones song.

 Jess Roden follows the tune's undulating rhythms, wave after wave of chord strums, as the sensitive verses lead to a tormented, dance-able chorus with a distinct salsa tempo. However despite the shifts in tone, it's all mixed in a low key manner without any stark contrasts, this works so well and yet it would mean it  would never be a hit single due to it's lack of a central hook. The laidback nature of the whole arrangement with it's feverish beat that picks up in the chorus and flamenco electric guitar licks deliver a strong Latin vibe to backdrop the affecting lyrical content which is the heart of the song. Roden croons soothingly about 'cold winter evenings' as he meanders along Sudden Street, where he can't resist temptation and over and over again states with multi-tracked harmonies 'You Know How I Feel' as to the organ and salsa percussion. Roden tries to justify his act of infidelity in the absence of a lover, clearly in denial as his vocal speeds up he is harmonised with his bandmates in hallowed 'oohs' as he comes clean and confesses his deep buried feelings.

 Roden's vocal here still one of my favourites with it's deep barrelled, cracked quality that sounds so ghostly and haunted with loneliness, despair, acceptance against a flamenco jam of strutting acoustic guitars, bubbly bass lines and carnivalesque drumming.