Zephyr

Zephyr | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 30, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B000002R2P
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,589 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sail On

2. Sun's a Risin'

3. Raindrops

4. Boom-Ba-Boom/Somebody Listen

5. Cross the River

6. St. James Infirmary

7. Huna Buna

8. Hard Chargin' Woman

Editorial Reviews

This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1991 MCA/One Way release. Catalog MCAD-22032.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Should have been an instrumental album, November 14, 2006

By 

P.S. "tsubame" (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zephyr (Audio CD)

I picked up this album because I recently have taken an interest in Tommy Bolin and was curious about his early recordings. I had only his reputation and the reviews on Amazon to go by. This album both impressed me and made me want to run to tape up the windows.

Let's talk about the impressive parts first. Musically there is a lot of talent here. At least twice I found myself thinking of Led Zeppelin, noting the slow heavy blues and Tommy Bolin's soloing, which occasionally resembles Jimmy Page's style on early Zeppelin albums, particularly on Somebody Listen and Hard Chargin' Woman. When Bolin is given a chance he proves himself a talented guitarist, even though the more familiar style of his later years is not apparent here. The other musicians do well too. Robbie Chamberlin (dr), David Givens (bs), and John Faris (keys, flute) show they can play heavy blues as well as any British band. Musically, this album deserves a 4 if not 5.

And then there's Candy Givens on vocal. At first - maybe the first minute - I thought she was alright, sounding a bit like Janis Joplin. But it became apparent soon that she was no Janis. The biggest problem is her constricted-throat wailing and howling that has her sounding like one half of a cat fight. It spoils almost every song. The band is playing away some beautiful music and Candy comes in starting out okay and then suddenly WHAAAA-IIIHH! Their cover of Raindrops had me begging for an instrumental soon. In fact, the next track is an instrumental. Boom-Ba-Boom is a 1:20 intro to Somebody Listen and ends with another WHAAAAH from Candy. The absolutely ludicrous Huna Buna, a song that is more annoying than The Black-eyed Peas's Humps song, had me clutching my forehead and saying, "God, make her stop!" Later I realized that the song might have been intended as a joke.

To be fair, she has a sense of what she is trying to do - that is sing jazzy or heavy blues like Robert Plant or Janis Joplin - and she can sing and does a decent if not pretty good job of it as long as she is not doing that atrocious caterwauling. Her voice will only appeal to those that like that style or to those who can get used to it. The rest of the album is great if you can get past the screaming and howling. I give it three stars only because the vocals spoiled it for me. Considering the vocals alone I would have been hard pressed to rate it as high as a two.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stands the test of time, February 24, 2004

By 

Sandra in Motown "MotownBabe" (Motown) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Zephyr (Audio CD)

I've been listening to this album all my life and must say it's worth having in your collection. This band is totally underrated and forgotten, so let's spread the word.
www.moonchildiva.com

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great band...unbearable vocalist, October 4, 2010

By 

G. Putman (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zephyr (Audio CD)

This was Tommy Bolin's first album, and his playing on this heavy blues rock album is pretty impressive. He had a great guitar tone, and occasionally his playing really reminds me of Jimmy Page's style on some of the slower early Zeppelin blues numbers. The rest of the band is impressive as well, and I really have to give kudos to the organist for some pretty wild soloing. The songwriting is generally strong, and will appeal to fans of early 70's progressive blues rock. In my opinion, the only thing holding this band back from true greatness are the really grating vocals of Candy Givens. She tries to sound like Janis Joplin, along with the blues moaning of Robert Plant. The problem is with her Robert Plant fixation. Plant was usually successful in escaping total embarrassment with his vocal excesses simply because he had a strong voice. Candy Givens sings on-key and all, but she sings too much from the throat when she does her Plant-style moaning, thus producing an irritating, thin tone that sounds more like screaching rather than blues-moaning. Simply put, it's absolutely horrible. If you can get past this, then by all means, check out this album. Like I say....the band rocks!