Hello, Fellow Lanky readers, I am one of the fellow members of the Lanky Bastards blog Poké. I was challenged by Joja in his last post which was about his review of William S. Fischer’s album Circles.
“I challenge you (especially lankers Pokes <- (this is me) and Hoggy) to find me an album that’s as stimulating as this sexy beast.”
So as requested I did the following so with writing this review. The album I am presenting is one of my personal favorite albums of all time and means a lot to me in my journey of exploration into music. The album I present you is Prog Rock group Patto first album self-named release. Formerly known as Timebox a five-piece r&b/mod/psych British pop band who only released a handful of singles until they broke up and formed the four-piece group named after Lead singer Mike Patto. Ths band features the highly underappreciated virtuoso Ollie Halsall on Guitar, Vibraphones, and Piano with members Admiral John Halsey on Drums and Clive Griffiths on Bass all coming together to form this highly talented and astounding group.
The album opens up with the song “The Man” a fantastic 6 minute opener kicking off the album in a slow tempo but a very calming feeling to it with vocalist Mike Patto singing in a very calm way with the band melding and blending in with his singing from the fuzzy yet distinct sound from the guitar to the spacious drums in the mixing adding to how great of a track it is. This then leads to a Vibraphone solo which is paired amidst the drums and bass bringing this Jazzy yet Rock feeling to it. Then suddenly, the guitar comes back and is louder than before playing these heavy but retained riffs but still swelling with power as this is happening the drums, bass, and vocalist get more and more wild up with the track gaining speed faster in tempo to the climax of the track with the vocalist proclaiming “I Saw The Man” over and over till the song fades out.
The Next Track “Hold Me Back” is a solid heavy track with elements of Blues and Prog Rock that has quite a nice catchy theme to it and a great solo from guitarist Ollie Halsall. overall this is a great track on the album to listen to and is definitely amoung of one of the greatest songs on this album.
Track Three “Time To Die” kicks off with an Acoustic Guitar being played in the background and beautifully done vocals from Mike Patto and the band backing him. This song reminds me heavily of the band Love album Forever Changes but with a Blues and Prog Rock twist to it. in general, this is a nice track.
Track Four “Red Glow” is among the highlights of the album and the band showing how good they are at the instruments they play with fantastic guitar work from Ollie Halsall who has two fabulous guitar solos on this monstrous track and killer drumming from John Halsey. I highly recommend you spin this track and listen to it.
Track Five “San Antone” has the same excellent guitar solo from the last track and also has great vocals from band member Mike Patto. This track also features an upbeat feeling to it with an upbeat Piano playing in the background and really excellent Drumming to pair with it.
Track Six “Government Man” leads the record from an Upbeat feeling to a more calm feeling with sad lyrics from vocalist Mike Patto. Overall this track is led by bassist Clive Griffiths but instead of the usual lead guitar, the guitar follows along with the bass really giving it a nice feeling to it.
Track Seven “Money Bag” is arguably the worst song on the album with a 10-minute long starting off with a Prog Rock/Avant-Garde feeling to it with impressive bass playing, guitar and drums complex rhythms. After around 6 minutes of jamming, they lead into vocalist Mike Patto singing and goes on from there.
The Last and final Track “Sittin’ Back Easy” starts slowly by Sittin’ Back Easy and then from there goes on to have excellent playing from the band then suddenly goes into a killer guitar riff time to time moreover going back to it. For the last track, it’s a really satisfying ending to an excellent album.
This album was not something made for the mass fans of listeners and needs several plays of careful listening for you to get all of the appreciation this album needs for you to enjoy it to the fullest. I highly recommend everyone check out and listen to this album as this is the type of album that you happen to stumble upon a rare occasion and if it falls out of your hands like sand in your palms you will never find another amazing and fantastic album like this.
Just listened to it (i know i know im late) but it clearly is an underrated band. Most songs have about 40k listens on spotify, though pretty much every single song is enjoyable. Thanks for sharing that piece of art, pokes !