Customer Reviews

Triptych

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

 

 

If you're expecting to hear more of the original Bloodrock sound....you may be disappointed...but if you liked Stevie Hills incredibly flowing Hammond B-3...Eddie Grundys consistently solid and imaginative bass style and Nick Taylors always impressive guitar playing (from their efforts on the first 5 Bloodrock albums) as these 3 are the nucleus of all three albums included in this set....Rick Cobb plays only on the first album.....his style is immediately identifiable....Randy Reeder steps in on the 2nd album on drums....Warren Ham takes over the vocal spotlight from Jim Rutledge...offering a much cleaner sounding voice style...while also playing sax, flute and harmonica (he also toured with Carol King in the late 80's or early 90's and played excellent sax for her). The 3rd album was more along the lines of Hendrixes "Electric Ladyland...alot of guest musicians brought in for this effort...altho it maintains the Bloodrock sound found on all 3 albums..

The recording quality is excellent...hats off to Eddie Grundy for superb job....I like the material from all 3 albums...am a diehard Bloodrock fan.....I would say that this set places them further up into the realm of what "progressive rock" is all about....the earlier albums were more straight forward rock....aside from where Bloodrock 3 took more of a jazzy approach and revealed that these guys had some serious chops...

I would recommend this to anybody who ever liked Bloodrock....listen with an open mind and open heart....dont think you'll be disappointed at all.

Comparisons to the original Bloodrock aside, Triptych is, in a word, satisfying. The re-mastering on "Passage" and "Whirlwind Tongues" was done with care and both albums sound terrific on CD. Everything is clear and I can appreciate some of the finer points that didn't translate well onto vinyl. The 2 CD set comes with liner notes, courtesy of Steve Hill, offering some background info on "Unspoken Words" or "Bloodrock 8" as it's also known. It also includes a detailed list of credits, which is always a treat. It's nice to know who did what.
Spoken Words is produced by Ed Grundy as were the previous two albums. Listening to the three of them consecutively, Ed's strength as a producer is apparent with each album taking the music to greater heights. "Words" is, as Steve notes, "...an expansion of the writing style begun with Passage and Whirlwind." This is indeed the case, although "Words" also demonstrates what appears to be a new level of confidence and maturity in their playing.
The album overall has a distinct jazz flavor with a touch of blues and takes Bloodrock even further from its original heavy sound. The transformation, however, is an honest one. "Words" doesn't sound like a band trying to reinvent itself. It's a personal and finely crafted effort with plenty to enjoy. Steve Hill continues to explore the then emerging synth and electronic keyboard sounds, employing them tastefully throughout the album. Warren Ham also delivers. His vocals are strong as on the previous albums but he sacrifices the urgency of "Passage" and "Whirlwind" in favor of a more thoughtful and measured approach. The vocal arrangements are well defined and on target. As well, Warren offers some exquisite flute and saxophone work. This, along with Steve's tremendous keyboard work, creates a synergy that carries each song to a satisfying conclusion. Bill Ham doesn't take too many bows, but offers an understated but tasty guitar solo on "For The Ladies" and some down to earth licks on "Chicken Fried". With the steady rhythm of Ed Grundy on bass and Matt Betton on drums/percussion, "Unspoken Words" is without doubt as pleasing a swan song as any Bloodrock fan could hope for. Like the rest of Bloodrock's albums, the next listen is as good as the first.
Some fans won't be able to get past the original sound of Bloodrock to fully appreciate their growth or the impressive work of their last three albums. I suppose there's a case to be made for either continuing with their original sound or changing the band name to reflect such a marked change in direction. For whatever reasons, they carried on as Bloodrock. One can only admire them for taking a chance even if it ultimately failed them commercially. Nonetheless, I'm proud to add this to my CD collection. It was a long time coming but sure as hell worth the wait.

Bloodrock was a late 60's and early 70's band which had mild success with luke warm hard rock with its initial albums. However, with their last two albums in 1972 and l973 Bloodrock changed directions into an area which was just beginning to take shape, classical rock (ex. Yes, Kansas). Triptych is an interesting package of orginal recorded remastering of these two albums and more. The more is in the ears of the listener. These musicians have mixed the best of classical rock with meaningful lyrics and uplifing smooth vocals to give us a treat!

You might think that with this new sound, Bloodrock could have stayed around a little longer! In fact the name Bloodrock does not really match the sytle of music displayed on these two albums. If you are looking for a refreshing sound from a group that made a final statement a long time ago, don't miss Triptych.

This set includes Bloodrock's last two albums plus a previously unreleased album.

PASSAGE is a good album from 1972 with a sound that's close to Kansas, even the singer sounds a bit similar to Steve Walsh (although not quite as good). The main difference is that where Kansas uses a violin, Bloodrock uses flute. This also makes Bloodrock occasionally sound a bit like Jethro Tull (which isn't a bad thing in my book).

WHIRLWIND TONGUE from 1973 carries on with the same sound but here the music doesn't sound quite as inspired any more. Not bad, but it's not as good as PASSAGE. And a cover of a Beatles' song? You're bound to come up with something less good than the original. (With the possible exception of Joe Cocker and a mere handful of other artists.)

As for the archive material... well it's not bad for being archive material. The sound is just as professional as on the aforementioned albums. But it even more than WHIRLWIND TONGUES lacks good songwriting.

I think the whole set would have made a better impression if they placed the two main albums on CD1 and the unreleased album solely on CD2, instead of dividing the second album onto both discs. Then it would have been easier to consider the archive material as just a bonus curiosity.

All in all: If you like Kansas during their progressive era then you will most probably enjoy the album PASSAGE. If you come across this CD set for a price that you would find sensible for one good album, then go ahead.

I Bought the cd for Passage on disc 1 and it sounds just fine thank you.Don t know what that other mess is...

Here is "progressive" rock's greatest paradox- its most diehard fans tend to live in the USA, but (try as they might)American bands who sail the tricky waters of the genre usually end up sounding like Spinal Tap's "Mark 2" period. Bloodrock was one of these groups; I must admit though they did have theier moments."Triptych" earns most of its stars from "Passage", which was Bloodrock's most interesting album, signaling a transition from Southern Gothic hard rock to a kind of Chicken-Fried Prog sound. The music is still decidedly uncommercial, but probably considered too watered down by hard-core fans. The inclusion of "Passage" on this 3 album collection is the main reason to pick up a copy, and I will agreee with other reviewers that a reissue of this title alone would have been quite sufficient. Not essential, but will satisfy completists.

After listening to this music recently, I had a flashback to a poster I once saw from about this same time period, of a concert in Kansas, where the group, Kansas, was opening for Bloodrock. Keep in mind, this was before Kansas had even recorded their debut album. Wonder if they knew them in another life? Let's six-degrees it...
Something tells me "these" guys had run-ins in with "those" guys in the same part of the country all the way back to the Lewisville Pop festival in Texas back in 1969. Kerry Livgren from Kansas was a long time fan of another group that Bloodrock's previous producer, Terry Knight, was producing, called Grand Funk Railroad, and had come down interstate 35 from Topeka to attend that festival, at the same time Bloodrock was there, waiting in the wings to be signed by Mr. Knight. Kerry says to this day he was looking for a singer like GFR's singer to emulate. I think he was also looking for a hard-rocking band, with more progressive-jazz leanings to emulate, as well. All the while he was looking at GFR, I think he was also secretly eye-balling their little brother, Bloodrock. And it was that slight change from the gruff-vocals of Jim Rutledge to the silky ones of Warren ham, less of the Ritchie Blackmore-like riffing of Lee Pickens, and more of the organ and synth of Stevie Hill, that Kerry Livgren finally found the template for his group, Kansas. He was probably listening hours on an end to this album to get his ideas. You should as well.

Bloodrock apparently had their extremely brief moment in the sun back in the early '70's with 'D.O.A.' before doing a slow disappearing act into oblivion. Thats the case with most bands, but with Bloodrock it was wholly undeserved. As evidenced here, Bloodrock went from being a second-string hard rock outfit to a fifth string prog band. Try as they might, they couldn't get radio or rock fans in general to care about their growth as artists. And indeed they did try; the progression that you hear on these obscure and unreleased final recordings from their more popular and mostly unintersting early recordings is astounding. Yes, different, and certainly way more involving. I would recommend this two-cd set to all fans of classic rock who wish to step outside of the limited FM box and experience something a whole lot different. Bloodrock didn't set the world on fire with these recordings but there is a definite spark that you'll appreciate.

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Like many Bloodrock fans, I wasn't quite sure what to think when they switched vocalists (for the worst) and musical directions with the release of their PASSAGE album. Part prog, part jazz, part psych, and with a much-diluted hard rock edge, PASSAGE was largely unsatisfying (despite a few good moments: "Scotsman", "Days And Nights").

The exponential decay continued with WHIRLWIND TONGUES -- almost all jazz, zero power chord content, and a horrid Beatles cover version. By the end of track 1, I knew for certain that the Bloodrock I knew and loved throughout the early 70's was was long gone.

TRIPTYCH contains both these albums in their entirety, plus the long-shelved UNSPOKEN WORDS -- one listen will tell you exactly why (believe me, one listen is ALL you will be able to stomach). Too many horns, too little rock, and a crippling shortage of original Bloodrock members. Even the most imaginative and forgiving hard rock fan will have a difficult time accepting that the atrocity spinning in their CD player is from the same outfit responsible for "Kool-Aid Kids" or "D.O.A.". NOT progressive rock by any stretch of the broad definition... but rather very painful and embarrassing to behold.

Though I will be the first to pat One Way Records on the back for their continuing efforts to give CD release to our favorite obscurities from the 70's, UNSPOKEN WORDS is one album that would have been better left unreleased. A single disc issue of PASSAGE would have been more than enough to satisfy my Bloodrock collection.