The Frost's second album on
Vanguard,
Rock and Roll Music, has the 1969
Dick Wagner four years before he would tour as part of the
Lou Reed Rock & Roll Animal Band. The title track, recorded live at
the Grande Ballroom in Detroit by engineer
Ed Friedner, has an incessant chant over a bellowing guitar foundation. It is a good, raw picture of early
Wagner music, a vital document of a Michigan band that helped shape that scene.
"Sweet Lady Love" is the group in the recording studio with a tune that rocks like latter day
Guess Who around the time of their
Live at the Paramount LP. Producer
Sam Charters balances the live tracks with the studio ones, a la
John Simon's vision for
Janis Joplin's
Cheap Thrills. An acoustic ballad,
"Linda," is placed in between that hard rock and is a far cry from the nice madness of side two's live tracks. In fact, the delicacy of
Dick Wagner's voice and guitar playing might've found some chart action if it wasn't put in the context of a near
metal album.
Wagner sounds more like a British
folky, say solo
Paul McCartney, than American contemporary
songwriters/singers James Taylor and
Jonathan Edwards.
"Linda" also sounds more like the type of music one would expect to hear on
Vanguard. The parallels between
Lou Reed and
Frost cannot be ignored.
Reed's signature tunes during
RR Animal were
"Sweet Jane," "Lady Day," and
"Rock & Roll." Wagner's titles,
"Rock and Roll Music" and
"Sweet Lady Love," are side by side here -- just an eerie premonition of the shape of things to come.
"Black Train" on this album has the same vibe as
the Velvet Underground's
"Train Coming Round the Bend" off of
Loaded, though the style and melody are different.
"Help Me Baby," on the other hand, has a throbbing
Blue Cheer bassline from co-singer and bassist
Gordy Garris and rhythm guitarist
Don Hartman, as well as a
Grand Funk style blitz.
"Donny's Blues" opens side two, almost eight minutes of the band vamping with
Hartman on vocals and harmonica. It melts into the song
the Animals made famous for
Barry Mann and
Cynthia Weil,
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place." Vanguard should go through the vaults and expand the live segments of this recording. One can feel the framework which would benefit
Alice Cooper when the
Rock & Roll Animal Band moved on to back that rock star. And
Dick Wagner played a big role in writing some of
Alice's biggest hits when they collaborated.
The Frost has glimpses of the sound that would be so instrumental in defining '70s
hard rock. ~ Joe Viglione
