Friday 15 March 2019

Titanic (1970) Mary Jane - LOST 70s GEMS

Norway rockers Titanic's debut album is a force of Psych Rock, Jazz, old timey pop; Ghostly reverb, haunting backing vocals, lively percussion, devilish lead guitar, penetrating organ work and European splendour come together for what is an epic voyage of rock musicianship.

 The album opens with Searchin, an organ drenched number, featuring a thrumming bass line doubled guitar, a frenzied percussion only bridge full of congas, cowbells and various other drums is startling before the organ smoothly glides in. The rip roaring track is cleanly recorded for it's underground status and ends in some supreme group vocal wailing, demonic guitar fuzz chords and thrashing drums. The droning and wailing of the guitar continues in the following track, Love is Love, in a very rhythmic blues pattern set to a Jazzy hi-hat tempo; in the song we get more ghostly vocal wails and even a haunted house scales as well another brief percussion segment. Mary Jane is a beautiful orchestral ballad draped in haunted echo, delicate piano and elegant strings waltzing along to a swaying circus organ line. Cry for a Beatle, is very much in the Nillsson/Lennon school of chirpy Vaudeville pop with a honky tonk piano, clopping drums and underwater keyboard fills. While the next track Something on my Mind is a powerful rocker with a strutting late 60s wah wah crunch, more cavernous echo for the solo parts and solid backbeat drumming; it's also worth pointing out the singer sounds remarkably like Steve Winwood on this track. Firewater is a sax and horn driven dance number with an unrelenting big band beat full of strong horns and a carousel like riff and a bopping 1940s rhythm section; you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a different band if it wasn't for the big drums echoing off into abrupt stops and the 'out of place' wah wah blues solo.

Schizmatic Mind is a early 70s bubblegum rocker with it's different singing voice being ore in line with the pinched 'bratty' vocal direct delivery of many 60s groups set to their background of sultry Jazz piano and a series of 'underwater' Hammond filtered guitar arpeggios taken from Cream's Badge. I See No Reason is the longest track and yet most forgettable as an another heavy organ ballad with more ghostly backing vocals and prominent hi-hats and excessive wah wah guitar soloing in the final third. The ghostly raga backing vocals mix with lyrics pertaining to ethnic identity and mixed blood in Half Breed and more of that very European waltz sounding reverb and organ combo that dresses this whole album. Santa Fe is a closing African drum track with Scandinavian accented backing vocals singing 'ooooh Santa Fe' is a strong example of subtle mixing as the drumming pans subtly around the vocals and is steadily layered up to end this interesting mess of an album. It's fitting as the drums are the key to their whole sound, then organ then backing vocals with the rest of the elements being perfunctory.



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