Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wild, Wild West..., 29 April 2003
A fine, criminally overlooked example of 70's rock at it's best. Led by future superstar producer Alan Shaclock's scorching guitar and Jenny Haan's throaty roar, Babe Ruth produced a fine debut.Shacklock's love of Spanish music underlines much of the album, evident in many of the riffs and licks that adorn the songs. At the end of THE MEXICAN, they roar into a version of the theme from For A Few Dollars More and many of the lyrics conjour a picture of the wild west. BLACK DOG begins quietly, even spookily but turns rock hard by the end. They even manage a fair take on the old Zappa favourite, KING KONG. The highlight however, is the beautiful THE RUNAWAYS, a true tale of angst set against a delicate melody which in turn is followed by a desolate piano motif which builds and builds into a grand rock-meets-orchestra finale. later cd versions found First Base coupled with it's inferior follow up, Amar Caballero but here it reigns in all it's own glory. If you enjoy crunching seventies rock with superior vocals and premiership quality guitar, you'll only be cheating yourself if you don't buy it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely great stuff for all rock, Morricone and spaghetti western music fans, 11 Jan 2009
Seven 5* and one 4* tracks on an album can't be bad, especially when it was a debut (now supplemented with a single mix and non-album B-side).
This is Babe Ruth's absolute classic debut album from 1972 and, unfortunately, they would never match anything on it and it was all down hill from here.
The opener, the superb Alan Shacklock-penned tune "Wells Fargo", is just what its title suggests; a high speed romp through cowboy territory (of the spaghetti nature) like a stage coach, complete with a funky groove and wonderful dirty sax solo.
Ennio Morricone fans will love the western flavour of much of this platter, especially the incorporation of one of his tunes, "The Mexican", which just about defines this album. On this re-issue CD the non-album B-side is another Morricone song, "Theme From "For A Few Dollars More""; class spaghetti-western stuff indeed.
"King Kong" only gets a 4* rating because it's an instrumental and a cover (of a Frank Zappa song), though it's still a great cover version of the tune.
Jesse Winchester's "Black Dog" gets an even better treatment, starting slowly and building up to a crescendo via the keyboards, screaming guitar and Jenny Haan's changing vocals of course.
"Joker" is another classic Shacklock tune in a similar style to his "Wells Fargo" but sufficiently different to avoid repetition and boredom.
There are slow, introspective ballads here too (well all right, there's half a one, "The Runaways", which is a ballad at the start, then it builds slowly whilst maintaining that overall western feel of the album).
I thought that this was this album that went gold in Canada but, surprisingly, I read in the latest booklet notes that it was the vastly inferior and over-rated second, "Amar Caballero". Well, you learn something new every day.
This was an all-time classic album when I bought it on vinyl in the early 70s and it's stood the test of time, remaining a classic and now even better for the inclusion of the single plus it's in a nice digipack case.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost a home run, 26 Mar 2008
Dating unmistakeably to the early 1970s, Babe Ruth's debut album consists of half a dozen lengthy rock workouts as per the norm for that era. 'Wells Fargo,' the first of three original titles, is hard rock with vitality and a preoccupation with Old West themes. As is the case across the album, the percussion is subtle rather than bludgeoning, giving the feel of the music a lean, distinct flavour. 'The Runaways' is a surprise after this, a gentle piece that builds slowly to a string-backed climax with a memorable, insistent melody. The other original song is the highly-charged 'Joker.'
'King Kong,' a Frank Zappa number, is a more prog-like instrumental that sounds out of place, but the other covers, 'Black Dog' and Morricone's 'The Mexican,' are superb. Though guitar dominates 'Wells Fargo,' keyboards are often more prominent on other tracks. The vocals tend to be a bit thin and at times shouty, but this is an album with a lot of energy and no small amount of craft.
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