'Scuse Me. 1972 Harvest
'Scuse Me is the debut album from German horn rock band Round House. Of the 10 tracks presented here, 8 are of the song based variety, and all are uniformly good. Excellent horn charts, well written melodies, and fine guitar/organ interplay are the order of the day. And vocalist Bernd Heil has an uncanny resemblance to David Clayton-Thomas, with his soul tinged forceful voice. Highlights of this style include 'Motives', 'Send Me a Letter', 'Sunshine in My Eyes', and 'Thinking of You'. 'Born to Wander' mixes horn rock with jazz rock, and the band lets loose more instrumentally here to great effect. The title track, though, is really something special. It's the only instrumental, and here Round House mixes jazz rock with underground Krautrock. The echoed vibes juxtaposed against the riffing wah wah rhythm guitar will make you stand up and jam. It's been a long time since I'd revisited this album, and in my notes for their follow up (also a long ago listen) I had noted I preferred that one because they had "stretched out more". If this is the inferior album, then Down To Earth might be looking for another half point boost as well!
'Scuse Me comes recommended to horn rock fans. For those who can't stand the style (which sadly seems to be the majority), or do not want to hear another band following in the footsteps of Chicago and BST, I would steer well clear of 'Scuse Me, except maybe to hear the title track.
Down to Earth. 1973 Harvest
'Scuse Me comes recommended to horn rock fans. For those who can't stand the style (which sadly seems to be the majority), or do not want to hear another band following in the footsteps of Chicago and BST, I would steer well clear of 'Scuse Me, except maybe to hear the title track.
Down to Earth. 1973 Harvest
Round House were a German based group who obviously spent a lot of time with their Chicago Transit Authority album collection. And they do a pretty convincing job with their variation of the horn rock sound. Some excellent grooves and they tend to veer towards the jazzy side, always a plus in this genre. Much better, I feel, than the more known Brain label horn groups like Emergency and Creative Rock. While the debut is also great, follow up album Down to Earth is quite a bit more adventurous and includes a near side long suite similar to Chicago's 'A Girl from Buchanon', but overall less pop oriented. There's plenty of great music to be found here, especially considering the fiery Terry Kath inspired wah wah guitar.
Priority: 2
Priority: 2
10/29/09 (new entry); 6/9/24
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