Customer Reviews

Bloodrock

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great opening album by one of the most under rated bands of that time, here you see the original creators of Hard Rock and this being the first of many fine albums to come. The vocals are trend setting by Jim Rutledge who also did the drum work on this first album, a rockers voice by all means. The guitar work by Lee Pickens is fine although not as refined as his later work it stands and sits just fine. The mystical rockers Time Piece, and Melvin are great compositions and Fatback and Double Cross are real shakers. The band only got better with time and my favorite will always be 'BloodRock 2', sadly they recorded as BloodRock without Jim Rutledge and Lee Pickens for the last two albums and then faded into the Rock n Roll sun. But this is fine effort for starters.

Emerging from Texas in 1969, Bloodrock, along with ZZ Top, went out to prove that good ol' boys could rock every bit as good as any English band at the time. And with the interplay of their music centering around the excellent guitar work of Lee Pickens and keyboard playing of Stevie Hill, it reminds one a lot of the bouts between guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord in Deep Purple. But I would argue that Lee Pickens is a much better, and more soulful, guitar player than

Ritchie Blackmore, and probably one of the most underrated guitar players of his era. It's a shame that Bloodrock's two best musicians, Pickens and Hill, didn't have a career after Bloodrock had faded away, because they could have been somebody. No offense to the rest of Bloodrock, but if you like that "Deep Purple sound"--that interplay between guitar and organ, you'll love this album. And who knows, you might even like this better!

An under-appreciated rival to the big names,to me they are as hard & heavy as Uriah Heep.Crank it up and get your beer buddies.Great musicians.I like "Double Cross" and "Gotta Find A Way" is a great album-opener.Give it a shot!

I saw this band when they called themselves "Texas", and they kicked butt. Several songs on this album are pretty close to the live show. Put it on and time travel...

First off....let me set the record straight about Fantastic piece of architecture"......It is about a superb architect who builds a structure that recieves phenomenol acclaim.....he does NOT walk into the parlor and fall dead immediately afterwards....it actually talks about how the structure....in comparison to the architects own life...suffers the ravages of life...and existence....as the architect ages and becomes frail.....eventually lying down and dying in the parlor of his masterpiece.....so does the masterpiece die.....the love that the architect had for his creation...died with him....or something along that line.....and NO..it isnt party music.....it's think music.

There are some excellent rockers on this album..and some nice ballads as well.

You might note that lead vocalist Jim Rutledge is also full-time drummer....Rick Cobb was brought in on the 2nd LP.

All in all...a very good debut.

FANTASTIC PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE is a song that never fails to move me, but I cry every time I watch Sing A Song Of Six Pants by The 3 Stooges, so make of that what you will. Buy this album if for no other reason than to validate my existence!

Really? Honestly? This is a great album, and the aforementioned song is one of my all-time favorites. I can't possibly explain why, but it just is. And GOTTA FIND A WAY is infinitely cool, if only for the way the guitar alternates two notes for 6-minutes plus but never gets boring.

BLOODROCK was one of the most unjustly underated bands ever. They deserved better, and you deserve this album. Go ahead - treat yourself. Buy it.

If I had a time machine I would set it for Spring of 1970 and hop in for a journey back in time. I had just finished playing in the finals of the Ohio State Basketball Tournament vs. Cincinnati Lincoln Heights and lost 62-60 in one of the most exciting finals ever; I lived the movie Hoosiers, except that we lost to a much larger school. Anyways, a month or so later, the National Guard of Ohio murdered four students at Kent State University without cause. That occurance and the changing music of the early 70's gave me a whole new outlook on my life and the US Government, Viet Nam, protests, Democratic Convention, etc. To me, this is one of those life changing albums, and to this day, find it as being an outstanding example of not only well played semi-hard rock, but as an exemplary sound of those changing times related to the War and young protesters and the "new sound" in music. I became anti-everything with this music (and other things), walking away from college basketball and becoming a Hippie-type, moving to Phoenix, AZ. and working in an Adult Movie House ( The Paris Theater ); man did I change; and as it turns out, probably for the worse. I blew a lot of opportunities indeed, but I do not regret most of the choices that I made at that time. But Bloodrock-Bloodrock is great statement of the music for my times of change, for sure. I cannot think of anybody who would not like their music; give it a try; highly recommended. DC

A simple, strong, straight ahead rock album. Some fine guitar and keyboard work. Also loaded with laughable pseudo-profound lyrics. Sing it, Jim Rutledge: "I just wanna go home-a, an' have m'self an ice cream cone." Huh? But it's a great album anyway.

No classic rock collection is complete without this CD. Why they didn't make it really big is a mistery. Their first album is very , very good. About as good as 1st albums get.

this my hard rock fans is one of the great straight ahead albums of all times this is a thinking mans band while the top 40 radio stations played silly love beads and flower songs bloodrock hits you with castle of thoughts and never brings you down and if you dont like every song on this album then you just dont get it no rock band today can touch these classic staight ahead rockers