Customer Reviews

Hearts on Fire

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

 

 

Rock bands fronted by drummers always seem a bit dubious(it's interesting that Ginger Baker's first post-Cream band was "Ginger Baker's Air Force", followed by the "Baker-Gurvitz Army"... perhaps he liked the idea of being Top Gun, or maybe, General?). The Baker Gurvitz Army was an odd (albeit, interesting)mid 70's hodgepodge of prog rock and disco (imagine the Moody Blues being backed by the Love Unlimited Orchestra). And even more oddly, it sort of... worked! "Hearts On Fire" benefits from the presence of lead vocalist Snips (who also appears on "Elysian Encounter" --formerly of the Sharks,and one of the most overlooked and underrated vocalists in the rock history books.)In fact, the Snips-penned "Neon Lights" and "Mystery" are the stand-out songs on the album. Songwriter/guitarist Adrian Gurvitz lends the occasional lead vocal (and sounds so similar to Jack Bruce that the band almost becomes a faux-Cream on those tracks!). A tough "sound" to pigeonhole, but 70's rock enthusiasts won't be disappointed.

I would like to take this opportunity to opinionate that Mr. Baker and The Gurvitz's brother's do a fine job engineering this album. Hearts on Fire(sounds like old Cream),Neon Lights(by Snips)good Rock n Rock,Tracks Of My Life(A.Gurvitz)Flying In And Out Of Stardom(A.Gurvitz)excellant. Side two goes at the same level! The idea is to listen to good Rock n Roll and to play that music that apeals to you. Ginger Baker is a legend by himself(not excluding JBruce/EClapton)and with the fine work of the Gurviltz brother's and Snips!! I would recommend this album to anyone that likes good Rock n Roll!

It's odd that this album has a spiritual twin, that being the album "Hearts OF Fire" by fellow brits Stray, which was released at around the same time. Not that the two albums necessarily sound alike per se; but more that they are put together with the same odd mix of songs. Both discs contain 10 songs, three of which are terrific prog inflected boogie hard rockers. Also each has a couple of more good ones in this vein. Both contain a couple of servicable R&B or Blues tunes as well. But the strange thing is that each release has three absolutely ill advised stabs at the dance-pop market; which come off as complete embarrasments in retrospect. Not that this is a bad effort, it's just extremely uneven. My feeling is that "Elysian Encounter" is BGA's most actualized record, with only a few mildly silly moments. My recommendation however is the "Collection" disc, which is usually very reasonably priced, and leaves out many of the stinkers that the more complete "Flying in and Out" Anthology includes. Hearts on Fire has some absolutely killer cuts on it; but those must-skip-over tunes kind of ruin it for me. And by the way; there are also a couple of excellent anthologies out there for Stay fans; which tend to leave out most of their dumb stuff too.

Side One
1. Hearts on Fire
2. Neon Lights
3. Smiling Tracks of My Life
4. Tracks of My Life
5. Flying in and Out of Stardom
Side Two
6. Dancing the Night Away
7. My Mind Is Healing
8. Thirsty for the Blues
9. Night People Listen
10. Mystery