Peter Bardens - 1971 - Write My Name In The Dust (full album)
- 10 years ago
An accomplished organist, Peter Bardens was a founder member of the Cheynes, prior to a brief spell in Them. By 1966 he was fronting a club-based act, Peter B’s Looners, which included drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Peter Green. The unit recorded a single, "If You Wanna Be Happy," but was then absorbed into the Shotgun Express, a soul-inspired revue that featured Rod Stewart. Bardens later formed the short-lived Village before releasing his first solo album, The Answer, in 1970. This informal selection featured several telling contributions by Peter Green, masquerading under an "Andy Gee" pseudonym, but an undisciplined approach undermined its obvious potential. A second collection, Peter Bardens, was more focused and showcased the artist’s touring group, which included the multi-talented Victor Brox, a former member of the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.
Write My Name in the Dust was the American release of Pete Bardens' second album, which was simply titled Peter Bardens in the U.K., though the contents were identical. It was a curious low-key, slightly downbeat affair whose unspectacular mixture of hard rock, blues, some female soul-gospel backup vocal arrangements, and more meditative jazz-classical-influenced progressive music was very much of its time. Bardens' first album (1970's The Answer) had suffered from drawn-out song construction, a trait that remained present to a large degree here, though without guitarist Peter Green on hand to help lift the proceedings. There was a lethargic hangover feel to tracks like "Feeling High," and attempts at pure blues and lighthearted music hall on briefer tracks were inconsequential distractions. The more serious and stately passages demonstrated Bardens' formidable genre-blending skills as a keyboardist, particularly on organ. But the material wasn't up to the standard of his playing, though the lighter, more focused moodiness of "Sweet Honey Wine" resulted in the record's best track.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/peter-bardens-mn0000840845/biography
Write My Name in the Dust was the American release of Pete Bardens' second album, which was simply titled Peter Bardens in the U.K., though the contents were identical. It was a curious low-key, slightly downbeat affair whose unspectacular mixture of hard rock, blues, some female soul-gospel backup vocal arrangements, and more meditative jazz-classical-influenced progressive music was very much of its time. Bardens' first album (1970's The Answer) had suffered from drawn-out song construction, a trait that remained present to a large degree here, though without guitarist Peter Green on hand to help lift the proceedings. There was a lethargic hangover feel to tracks like "Feeling High," and attempts at pure blues and lighthearted music hall on briefer tracks were inconsequential distractions. The more serious and stately passages demonstrated Bardens' formidable genre-blending skills as a keyboardist, particularly on organ. But the material wasn't up to the standard of his playing, though the lighter, more focused moodiness of "Sweet Honey Wine" resulted in the record's best track.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/peter-bardens-mn0000840845/biography