Death Walks Behind You

Artist: Atomic Rooster
Label: Repertoire
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4009910406922
ASIN: B000006Z63

Release Date: 2000-09-27

Death Walks Behind You

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Tracks:

Death Walks Behind You
Vug
Tomorrow Night
Seven Streets
Sleeping for Years
I Can't Take No More
Nobody Else
Gershatzer

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Album Description

Remastered digipak reissue of the UK prog act's 1970 album. Tracks include the hit single, 'Tomorrow Night' and 'Gershatzer'. 2000 release.

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Edition in a Digipak of the Second Album from the British Progressive Rockers, Following the Departure of Drummer Carl Palmer to Elp and Bassist Nicky Graham. This Album Yielded the Hit Single "Tomorrow Night" and Just Barely Nicked the UK Top 10, Stalling at #11.

Customer Reviews:

Finally Out.......2006-07-13

When I was a mere child,10 years or so,I inherited this album because nobody wanted it in my family,it was also very scratched.I listened and listened to it over and over and at that age knew that they were great.

For decades I have been looking for it and now it's out on an affordable cd price. These guys were like Sabbath ,Purple and Heep but were not popular in the seventies ,at least not in my home town. To say it's genius is an undestatement. This is a band who should be accredited with the Metal sound alondside with Sabbath and Purple and Heep ,all to a certain extent.

AR was heavy and dark and gloomy,something that perhaps only Sabbath ,Black Mass Lucifer and these guys were.

A band forgotten in history ,but not for those who were there.

Very sophisticated hard rock .......2006-06-19

This excellent 1970 album opens with some very eerie acoustic piano lines on the track Death walks Behind You, which more or less sets the gloom and doom tone for the rest of the album. With the roaring electric guitar work of John DuCann (aka John Cann) and the thunderous drumming of Paul Hammond, the hard rock aspect is established and provides a nice contrast with Vincent Crane's sophisticated Hammond organ and piano work. What is really neat about Vincent's playing is that he got a number of tones out of his organ, ranging from a majestic churchy organ sound, to a ripping, overdriven tone - he really makes this album work for me. I guess it is worth noting that a bass player is not present on this album, although you would never know - Vincent does a fantastic job with the left hand part in combination with some foot pedal work on the organ. The vocals by John Cann are excellent and very powerful: a perfect complement to the music. In general, all of the musicians are very good and their individual talents are showcased on the closing track, Gershatzer.

Speaking of sophisticated, I think that sophisticated hard rock pretty much sums the style of the whole album up nicely, although this music has also been referred to as early Heavy Metal. I personally don't see this music as Heavy Metal and feel that there is a lot more going on here musically than that exhibited by the early Heavy Metal bands. At any rate, I like this album quite a lot and many fans feel that it represents the high point of Atomic Rooster's recorded output. The eight tracks on the album range in length from 3'31" to 7'57" and feature some absolutely killer Hammond organ by Vincent along with fairly sprightly ensemble work (Vug).

This Repertoire reissue is pretty good and features excellent sound quality, restored artwork, and some good liner notes.

Although I am peripherally familiar with the debut album just because Carl Palmer played on it (I am a prog freak), this is my first direct exposure to Atomic Rooster and it has proven to be a very enjoyable listening experience. Highly recommended to those folks that like a combination of hard rock, imaginative arrangements, great Hammond work, and a healthy dose of doom and gloom.

Mott Walks Behind You........2003-09-12

Just the name alone conjures up thoughts of Demonic Early Seventies Heavy Metal Progressive Rock. You almost feel by natural instinct that if that is your kettle of fish then Atomic Rooster is going to be your bag. Before anyone gets confused by the name we are talking about 'Atomic Rooster' here, not 'Atomic Kitten'.

Atomic Rooster came out with a couple of very powerful early seventies albums. They sounded great, but unless denim, leather, Afghan coats, long lanky hair, mutton chop sideburns, and droopy moustaches are your thing, they probably aren't the best looking band in the world. Not when compared to the three little girls in Atomic Kitten. However, the music... well, it probably will not stand the test of time as well as this incredible collection of songs do. The music, not the mutton chop sideburns as in the pictures of Atomic Kitten, will still look good. In thirty years these guys now look a little dated, but then this Dog has been waiting years for the shaggy dog look to come back.

So who and what were "Atomic Rooster"? They were formed in mid 1969 by keyboard wizard Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer, one of the most bombastic drummers on the planet, after the collapse of "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown" and in the middle of an American tour. (Arthur Brown had one hit which was a number one "Fire", but that was it. Brown went on to lead Kingdom Come and released three very weird albums in the mid-seventies. He still makes a living to this day as a celebrity, hosting parties and festivals whilst singing the odd verse of "Fire".) Adding Nick Greenwood on bass, an album was recorded and released with the confusing title of "Atomic Ro-O-oster" . After a period on the road they had built a strong cult following, but then started a revolving door of musicians coming and going. (Mostly going in the early days. John Paul Jones was asked to join, but wisely took the offer of Jimmy Page's to join 'Led Zeppelin'. Jack Bruce decided to stick with his solo career, although fellow Cream band mate Ginger Baker turned up in "Atomic Rooster" in the eighties. Rick Grech was also asked, but he had just joined Ginger Baker along with Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in "Blind Faith". Most bizarrely a meeting was set up between The Rooster boys and Brian Jones, who had just left the Rolling Stones. He was found drowned in his swimming pool the day before the meeting was set for.)

First to abandon ship was bass player Nick Greenwood. He was replaced by guitarist Paul Ducann, whilst Crane took up bass duties using the bass pedals of his trusty Hammond organ. Then prior to going into the studio to record the all important second album, Carl Palmer was lured away from the Rooster to be the "P" in E.L.P. Are we talking Spinal Tap here or what? To any other band this would of been the death knell, but not to the Rooster. Vincent Crane simply recruited gangly powerhouse drummer Paul Hammond (possibly influenced by his surname), dived into the studio, and came out with this classic slab of awe inspiring music. One of the forerunners to form the music that is now called Heavy Metal. Although it was really Crane's band and the sound of the keyboards is dominant in the same way as say Jon Lord was in Deep Purple or Ken Hensley in Uriah Heep, there was still room for the other two to shine. In fact, Ducann wrote three songs on the album as well as getting a credit for the title song. Paul Hammond got to show his spurs on final track "Gershatzer", a number written specially for him by Crane with a fine three minute drum solo. Still today probably one of the best drum solos recorded specifically in the studio by a Rock 'n' Roll drummer .

Opener and title track "Death Walks Behind You" has a haunting spaced out piano intro before breaking into its sledgehammer riff and demonic vocals. It also features the first of musical jousting between guitar and keyboards, again drawing comparisons to Deep Purple. Second in is "Vug", a studio jam that was fortunate to be played whilst the tapes were rolling, so caught in all its fresh excitement. Next up was the much desired hit single "Tomorrow Night", a catchy little number played here to its frantic climax, whereas for the single the record company had faded out to make it a round little three minutes for radio play. The three Ducann songs follow, giving beautiful light and shade to the album whilst retaining Rooster's hard edge, before returning for two more Crane numbers with "Nobody Else" being as close to a ballad as Rooster were ever likely to get. Then "Gershatzer" brings us to a rousing conclusion.

"Death Walks Behind You" reached the top twenty in England, putting the Rooster alongside Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones. Peter French was then recruited as vocalist for the next album, "In The Hearing Of", which also charted "Tomorrow Night" peeking at no 11 and follow up single "Devils Answer", charging past that to reach no 4. The table seemed laid for world domination, but no in true Strange Fruit style, they even managed to bodge it up from there. Within twelve months of recording this classic, French, Ducann, and Hammond left claiming Crane's impossibly high standards as impossible to live up to. In the eighties Crane was quoted as "I always demand a band that's got a pretty A-plus standard every night". Crane recruited new guys and carried on, but the magic was gone. They reformed in the mid eighties, but the timing was wrong and they ended up being little more than a nostalgia act with Ducann and Crane being the only stable part of the lineup.

Tragically Vincent Crane, who had always suffered from bouts of manic depression, took his own life on Valentine's Day in 1989. A sad story of "If Only"...

But when the Roosters strutted their stuff, they were magnificent. Enjoy a bit of Atomic energy, but leave the Kittens alone.
Mott The Dog.

The Birth of a Genuis.......2002-06-14

Atomic Rooster was Vince Crane, a very talented musician, one of the best keyboard players in rock, and certainly one of the best composers, sadly underrated, whose life was cut short few years ago, by his suicide due to his illness (manic depression).
On every Rooster album, his songs shine the most, in melodic virtuiosity, and emotional expressions, whereas the songs that the guitarist John Ducann did the writing, the difference is felt, and what we have instead are average 70s rock songs.

But Crane, had a vision, a passion for his music and his instrument and it shows in all his writing, which are very melodic, with very catchy tunes that are guaranteed to stay with the listener for a long time.
Death Walks Behind You is an example of Crane on top form.
The title track, is one the best rock songs ever written..It is a very dark song, that starts with a haunting piano..can even be a scary song!!VUG is an instrumental melodic piece that has excellent interplay between keys and guitars, and a touch of prog rock..
Other tracks on the albums, show Ducann 's influence in cowriting, as they tend to be rockier, but they still have the power and brilliance and touch of Crane, and are very melodic.
The other classic on this album is Nobody Else, a very touching song, with a lovely piano, that offer the listener in the middle a good time change a la prog rock tradition, with brilliant guitar solo.
Atomic Rooster did some great stuff afterwards, esp. In Hearing Of and Made In England, but could not acquire the recognition they deserve.
Crane did another classic 'Headline News' his most progressive and personal/solo album, with a guest appearance by none other than Dave Gilmour. This album sadly remained largely unheard, and Vincent Crane died soon afterwards.
BUY THIS ALBUM on all account, and i guarantee 'Death Walks Behind You' will truly haunt you like no other song can manage to do!!

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