Pirana, Australia

Pirana. 1971 Harvest

Pirana were a band from Australia who released two fine albums, that are now rare collectors items, especially given the lack of a legal reissue (not even the great and now-defunct Aztec label showed any interest here).

Essentially Pirana are Australia's answer to 1969-71 era Santana. It's especially obvious from keyboard member Stan White, who plays the organ and sings quite similarly to a one Gregg Rolie. Tony Hamilton's guitar resembles Carlos Santana in style, but the tone is decidedly different, much rawer and more in line with a typical 1971 hard rock sound. There's quite a bit of tribal percussion here - perhaps too much honestly - but it does cement the relationship with Santana.

The songwriting is a mix of heavy Latin rock with pop sensibilities (sound familiar?). 'Elation' is a get-up-on-your-seat opener only to deflate a few minutes in to allow for a lengthy drum/percussion solo, and can only be considered a slight disappointment given the premise. Probably best to "program" most of it out. 'Sermonette' is great, and more representative of the album at large, with its strong songwriting and excellent guitar/organ combo. 'The Time is Now' actually predicts Malo, and is quite a revelation from an historical perspective. 'Find Yourself a New Girl' is the most commercially oriented track here, but features fine flute and a nice melody line. The album's only true misstep (not counting the overabundance of drums on track 1) is 'The River', a sort of country/rural rocker that is out of place, and not particularly well done. Both 'Easy Ride' and 'Stand Back' reminds us of the organ/guitar heavy sounds of 'Sermonette', and the latter track features some fine extended soloing. Overall a very good to excellent album. Giving a bump to the rating as music like this tends to grow positively with age.

Pirana II. 1972 Harvest

I have the original LP and need to jot down some fresh notes.

Priority: 1

8/13/10