Customer Reviews

It's a Circus World

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this record kicked when I bought it 20 years ago and it still does today. The guy in Dnver sounds like a disgruntled friend or somone from a band that never got out of town. Axis was Rock and Roll. Like most great art however it is totally overlooked. Jay Davis is the best bassist in the land! I can turn up "Soldier of love" at a party today and people want the cd, its that good.

I actually have this album on vinyl, I got it when it was originally released. I was in my favorite record store browsing and the owner slapped this bad boy on and when I heard the opening drum riff on Armageddon I was hooked! It is a very good old school hard rock album by some good players. I love the production. For me, they don't make them like this anymore. If you like good power trio hard rock, you'll like this!

I saw these guys open for Judas Priest at the starwood in santa monica back in 78-79, they kicked major but!!!!,the screaming guitar of D. johnson and the tightness of the bass and drums of j. davis & v. appice were superb. We meet the guys when they were playing local clubs in Riverside, ca back in 80-81 they just totally looked burn out, but I guess that just the biz! These guys had strong vocal harmonies and were in the process of making a new record but never transpired. These old rockers were just that, rockers, they did it and did it well!! Circus world was a true classic record and 20 years I still enjoy putting it on, and finally found it on CD.

This is an overlooked late 70's band but they have all the makings of superstars. Danny Johnson's fantastic guitar playing & vocals, Jay Davis' solid bass lines & the gargantuan sound of Vinny Appice on drums (if you love his Sabbath playing, you'll love this). Brown Eyes is probably one of the better rocks songs to come out of this era.I also have a couple of live cd's from this band, they shine even more. If you get a chance to pick this cd up, I urge you to. Thanks for your time.--Brady

Hard driving rock. One of the best albums of 1978........

This is pretty much the same band that backed up Rick Derringer on his great live album from 77. They're a solid unit, but without Rick's songwriting they seem just a little lacking in memorable tunes. Still a good album for anyone into "hard rock" before it became "heavy metal"

I bought this LP the morning it came out in the Fall of 1978. A friend who worked at a local record store knocked on the door of my apartment, a copy in hand. We were familiar with the band, so we cranked it up and waited for these great Axis songs of their live sets to fly out of the grooves. With each song we kept waiting, but it didn't happen.

Reviews at the time were harshly unkind. Circus Magazine called it "the worst record of 1978". Ouch! In fairness there are moments that are quite good. "Brown Eyes" comes very close. "Stormy Weather" kicks. But then there are a few rather gruesome moments too. The title track and "Juggler" are decidedly difficult to listen to. I saw Axis playing live in support of the record. They opened a triple bill for Golden Earring and Boston. They were better that day that both of those bands.

I first heard Axis during rehearsals in a small spare bedroom of guitarist Danny Johnson's parent's house. They'd put up a used parachute on the ceiling and egg cartons on the walls to try to knock down the sound reflections of an Ampeg V-4. Even in the 11th grade these guys were very good. By 1974 they were playing most of the bars on the Bossier strip, and this little power trio simply tore the roof off the place.

Johnson was "discovered" in one of those bars by Rick Derringer. Danny played with Derringer for a couple years, and is heard on those albums. "It's a Circus World" was recorded after that ended, and before he and Jay Davis went on to play with Rod Stewart on "Tonight I'm Yours". But this was to be the only Axis album.

"It's a Circus World" was well recorded, well produced, well played, and it worked vocally. Vinnie Appice is just a monster (great) on drums. But the direction, passion, and energy of the music strayed from the roots the band grew from. Twenty years on, it still shows. I had heard that they got together with the record company to try to produce product that might intersect with the next predicted direction of the music business. I guess they missed, or perhaps that was a really dumb idea to begin with. For me, I wish they would have stuck to their guns. But maybe that's not what RCA Hologram was willing to bankroll at the time?

I might actually recommend this CD to people interested in the directions harder rock music explored during that time when disco was so dominant. Oh well. Next!

I have in my possession an Axis rehearsal tape from those club band days, and if I really want to listen to a band burn, I'll cue it up. Those guys could play! THAT recording still thrills me every single time I listen to it.

Axis flourished during the twilight of the 70s rock bands, right on the cusp of the punk rock revolt which soon overtook Hollywood, which is the only reason, combined with the cowardice and corruption of radio program-barons, that this band did not overwhelm the rock scene in 1978; fluff & syrup masters like Journey, Kansas, Toto and other assorted garbage were being pumped over the airwaves, while albums like CIRCUS WORLD were neglected by precious critics. Circus World is straight up rockin, and continues Danny's sound which appears on the three Derringer albums, Derringer, Sweet Evil, and Live: Danny's songs Sailor, Drivin Sideways, and One Eyed Jack show his incredible talent for melody.

Danny Johnson has a brilliance for knowing exactly where to put a note in a solo. His solos themselves often form sub-melodies, as ring out in BUSTED LOVE and RAY'S ELECTRIC FARM. This album is likley the most under-rated in rock history. Don't believe the pomposity of the critics, or the asinine claim by another reviewer here that Danny "plotted" his music with RCA. This music is too spontaneous and the perfection of Danny's Derringer-days sound to be a product of sell-out. The title track may be over-produced, but the defect is minor in an overall very strong set of old style rock n roll songs. JUGGLER uses a knife-like, precise rhythm which a hundred heavy metal bands of the 80s Sunset Strip could only slop and fake: Danny uses his guitar like a scapel, they use a sledgehammer. Jay Davis' TRAIN is a blues/ballad about a gun-slinger which is very powerful in its gloom and crescendos. SOLDIER OF LOVE is like a combination of Jimi's wah-wah and Clinton's funk, and Danny's trade-mark choruses. In ARMAGEDDON, the chord-count actually sounds like shellings and explosions. Danny sometimes and accidentally anticipated the punk sound by playing in lower registers, which we first hear on ONE EYED JACK, and appears on this album with songs like CATS IN THE ALLEY and RAY'S ELECTRIC FARM. But Circus World is really the last great old rock album.

Don't hesistate. Get this album.

AXIS was the last band to rock The Whisky and Starwood from 1978/early 79, before The Germs, X, and The Bags changed the vision & took over the Strip; Axis played twice monthly at these clubs, a "house band", and the live versions of these songs were swingin.[...]

I've been looking for this for sometime and i'm glad i've found it. Good stuff!

It is what it is..if you like Danny Johnson, then you need to get this...Classic! Danny Johnson is still Rockin Louisiana!!