Customer Reviews

Hold Your Fire

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"Give It All Away" may contain one of the ten best guitar solos of all time-- Ollie Halsall's manic runs up and down the frets are almost completely out of control-- almost. He careens up and down and back and forth and somehow ends up in the perfect place every time. It's a bravura performance on a perfect song. The rest of the album is excellent, but this is my favorite Patto album, and "Give It All Away" stands as their great achievement.

If you liked The Replacements' anarchic energy in the 80s, see what Patto was doing to lay down the foundations in the 70s. This is glorious stuff.

The creative team of Ollie Halsall and Mike Patto mastered nearly every rock music genre within a relatively brief period of time, yet continue to be largely overlooked by rock 'n' roll historians. Following thier original incarnation as psychedelic popsters Timebox, and preceding thier prog-rock stint as Boxer, Halsall and Patto defied genre as "Patto". "Hold Your Fire" was Patto's 2nd release, and features an interesting blend of jazzy chords, bluesy singing and straight ahead rock 'n' roll frequently wrapped in epic arrangements of prog-rock length (note only 8 cuts on the album). The uninitiated may wonder after a first listen: "What's the big deal?" -but Patto's unique blend has a way of growing on you, especially when you notice the "little touches" like guitarist Ollie Halsall's Lionel Hampton-like prowess on the vibraphone. The standout song is "You You Point Your Finger" featuring a heartfelt vocal from Patto and a beautifully fluid and understated Mark Knopfler-style guitar solo by Halsall. Possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but fans of 70's rock and those who can appreciate "musician's musicians" will enjoy.

Vertigo's Patto needed to prove nothing when they released Hold Your Fire. After the jazzy debut, Patto, in 1970 they had at least artistically made their mark.

Hold Your Fire is far more rock oriented. The songs are condensed. But what really makes this album an early 1970s rock ace is Ollie Hassle's guitar work.

Hassle was quicksilver, but when rock guitar mastery meant accelerated blues, not noise flash. Hassle took those classic blues scales and could rocket quick as Jeff Beck, right side up, upside down, sideways. His approach may seem sleepy now that we have been through Van Halen and 1980s top of the neck flash, but trust me, creatively, Hassle has far more depth.

The tracks here are fantastically written, and if you are ready for a cooker after the subtleties of Patto's debut, this will slam home the goods.

Go ahead. Fire away;

Imagine a Rock/Jazz/Blues version of The Faces with more eclectic lyrics and a lead guitarist that plays like Allan Holdsworth merged with John McLaughlin and Gary Moore but sounding like none of them and you're approaching a description of Patto, one of the most original and exciting bands to come out of Britain and sadly unknown to a lot of people outside of that country. Describing the amazing Ollie Halsall as I have above does him somewhat a disservice. His is a singular guitar style - sometimes smooth, sometimes angular and often both at once in the same solo. This is music that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was first recorded, when it was truly ahead of its time. There was only one Patto and if you haven't heard them do yourself a favour - this is amazing stuff! The short excerpts to be heard here don't give you the opportunity to immerse yourself in their rock/jazz workouts. The full tracks will take you on journeys the like of which are rare in rock. Ollie Halsall was a genius and should be up there in the guitar pantheon, where he could show some of the pretenders that reside there a thing or two.