Legendary drummer who died young,
Cozy Powell made some excellent albums and chose his musicians well.
A choice selection of the great and the good of a then burgeoning band of world class British rock musicians is here: Mel Galley, Don Airey, Gary Moore, Jon Lord, Jeff Beck, Bernie Marsden and David Coverdale, not to forget the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1981, Powell - also a much in demand session drummer - released his second album, '
Tilt'. The album reflects Powell's catholic taste. The eighties, albeit less so than the previous two decades, were still a time of experimentation, a time of matching and merging musical styles and genres. There's some fascinatingly eclectic rock music, incorporating jazz, rock and prog, as well as epic orchestral pieces.
Two tracks here -
'Cat Moves' and
'Hot Rock' - are contributed by the man to blame for that instantly recognisable theme to TV's Miami Vice, Jan Hammer. Afficionados will know that Hammer had also collaborated with Journey's Neal Schon. Clearly a respected musician and writer.
It could be argued of course, that Powell's disparate collection of songs on
'Tilt' do not a cohesive album make.
But the unequivocal fact is this : Powell never sets out to be the star of his own show. Each and every track is beautifully balanced. On the guitar instrumentals, the axeman is the star . . . Gary Moore's '
Sunset' is one of the most moving guitar instrumental pieces that you'll ever hear, Powell clearly knows that punctuation, with the occasional fill and frill, is all the track needs from him.
This is an unselfish approach that works tracks by track, even if the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
Frank Aiello makes a decent vocal fist of the Airey/Powell/Marsden cowrite,
'Living A Lie' (though Marsden nearly steals the show from under him), but Elmer Gantry's vocal contributions later in the album are never more than just okay.
Two years later, Powell released
'Octopuss'.
This album is an all instrumental affair and is all the better for it.
The emergent Progressive rock genre had evolved further through the eighties, and Powell wades out confidently into the genre's fast flowing waters with
'Princetown' and the title track '
Octopuss'.
These sit comfortably with tracks like
'Formula One', where Powell's thunder and Galley's axe heroics pair up to speed through musical chicanes and negotiate rhythmic hairpins with skill and power.
Powell's live performance spun around big budget, showpiece instrumentals like movie themes
'633 Squadron' and
'The Big Country'. These are both here in all their rousing, widescreen glory.
Gary Moore again contributes lead guitar to one of the album's better tracks, '
Dartmoore' (sic). An oblique reference to Powell's and Coverdale's male bonding camping trip, in an attempt by the singer to woo Powell into Whitesnake's ranks. (it worked).
The slick blues rock of
'The Rattler', written by Powell and Coverdale is a marvellously apposite closer on the album that was probably Powell's finest half hour.
RIP.
Ratings:Tilt : 6/10
Octopuss : 8/10
Written by
Brian Friday, July 31, 2009
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