Customer Reviews

Precious & Few

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

 

 

Why anti climax? Because after this terrific album from former Outsiders Sonny Geraci and Walt(er) Nims, Climax disappeared. I was a "card carrying" member of hard rock and metal in the 70's but the vocals and arrangements on this album put me in awe. From the classics "Precious and Few, Life and Breath" to the equally moving "Picnic in the Rain, Rainbow Rides are Free, Prelude" and "Child of December" the whole album is a musical masterpiece from beginning to end. The song "Park Preserve" which was the "B" side to the single "Precious and Few" was probably left off the original album for good reason; it just didn't fit in to the theme of the project. It was most likely a precursor to get feedback to a future heavier sounding album which never came. It may be just as well because sometimes things are better left with you wanting more and in the case of this album its true. Of all the music I've heard over the years "Climax" is without a doubt my favourite soft rock/pop album of all time. Now if we could only get a few samples of this album to go with the song list, I'm certain that most people unfamiliar with this work of art would agree.

Yes, after years of searching... finally purchased Climax on CD. The songs are great, but the poor quality of the transfers leaves me muff-eared. Life & Breath and Picnic in the Rain's sound goes in and out like an old eight-track tape. Unless you are a fanatic fan of the group, I would seriously consider NOT purchasing this CD.

in an effort to "match" what I own on vinyl, I've found this CD to fall way short in regards to quality standards. It took years to find ANYTHING by this band in a digital format. Perhaps because they were a one hit wonder by releasing just one album??? ...The recording quality is so poor on some of the tracks it is hard to believe it is digitally re-mastered. Some tracks...for example, "Life and Breath" sound so "muffled" it sounds as though someone recorded a cheap analog copy on inferior recording equipment. Also, the entire CD lacks any stereophonic dimension. There are also some tracks that appeared on the original album yet are not present on the CD. Perhaps the master studio tape was damaged somehow throughout years of storage and these missing tracks were no longer worthy of digital transfer (???). I should point out however that in their place appear songs that weren't on the original album (perhaps they released a second LP which I never saw?). Overall, if your an audio quality hound I wouldn't recommend the purchase of this CD. It might be better worth your while to wait and see if this is re-released at a later date after it undergoes an audio makeover.

I was happy to see one of my favorite old bands on CD finally. I wish that someone would release it all! Although in mono for the most part 8 of the 12 cuts are from the album (a short instrumental passage before Picnic in the Rain is the 8th cut) 3 cuts are previously unheard. First, Park Preserve which was the b-side to Precious and few is lengthened to over 5 minutes on this cd. The song Rock and roll heaven which was a hit for the Righteous Brothers is here in its ORIGINAL version. Yes, a member of Climax wrote it. Finally Waiting for the end to come is a pretty good mid tempo pop song. There is another cd out there on ebay occasionally with 8 different songs and the 7 album cuts here. 7 of those 8 are not from the album and it still leaves around 5-6 cuts still unreleased. This cd is definately worth a listen, but i wish Rhino or someone would release an anthology of everything. (all 25-28 cuts they recorded)

First of all I would like to thank Jearold Ulin from whom I bought this CD: thanx for sending it so quickly to Holland!About the cd itself: at long last somebody got the idea of getting some of the Climax material on a CD. The sound isn't as good as it should, but you can't expect superb sound for a CD with only 10 songs from a unknown record company. This isn't Rhino material (unfortunately)! But anyways: Climax is mostly famous for two songs which hit the Billboard (AC) charts in 1972 Precious and Few (#3) and Life and Breath (#52). The only album released by this group, aptly titled "Climax", only hit it as far as #177 in the Album Charts. Does the CD has anything to offer besides these two superb songs? Yes it has: if it was only for the song Rock and Roll Heaven, which was a hit by The Righteous Brothers in 1974. Picnic In The Rain and Rainbow Rides Are For Free also hit the right spot. But the main problem of the cd is that it doens't contain all the songs Climax recorded and the fact that Climax' strength lies in the orchestrated ballads not in the bar band music which is also featured on this cd. The Outsiders were the true blue eyed soul (bar) band and Climax just doens't match their sound despite the fact that Walter Nims and Sonny Geraci were in both bands. This CD a good buy for those people who want to listen more than the 2 hits by this band, also featured on many "Sounds of the 70-s" albums. These people won't be dissapointed!

I am including a previous review i wrote about this at the end. There is another Climax cd (on ebay from time to time) with 15 cuts. However this cd has 4 different songs which are not on the 15 track version. Hopefully soon there will be a comprehensive collection released. Until then this is the way to go.

Rock and Roll Heaven is their original version. (later covered by the Righetous Brothers)

Park Preserve is an extended version unavailable anywhere else. Originally a 3:47 version is on the 45 of Precious & Few. Not sure how or where they got this version but it is great. If only it sounded good (sounds kinda muddy) It is extended to 5 and a half minutes!

Waiting for the end to come sort of sounds like Sonny's previous band The Outsiders.

The rest of it was on their S/T 1972 album. Included below is my original review for more info.


>>>>>I was happy to see one of my favorite old bands on CD finally. I wish that someone would release it all! Although in mono for the most part 8 of the 12 cuts are from the album (a short instrumental passage before Picnic in the Rain is the 8th cut) 3 cuts are previously unheard. First, Park Preserve which was the b-side to Precious and few is lengthened to over 5 minutes on this cd. The song Rock and roll heaven which was a hit for the Righteous Brothers is here in its ORIGINAL version. Yes, a member of Climax wrote it. Finally Waiting for the end to come is a pretty good mid tempo pop song. There is another cd out there on ebay occasionally with 8 different songs and the 7 album cuts here. 7 of those 8 are not from the album and it still leaves around 5-6 cuts still unreleased. This cd is definately worth a listen, but i wish Rhino or someone would release an anthology of everything. (all 25-28 cuts they recorded)