Friday, August 10, 2018

SHAGGY – Lessons for Beginners (Royal, 1975)

English vocals
International relevance: ***
 
Another much heralded heavy rock album with a price tag bigger than its musical merits. Well, the songs themselves are more imaginative (sometimes actually overdone) than those of Asoka or Epizootic, but Thomas Engström's vocals are decidedly inferior. He compensates his insufficient voice with a shouty style that the backing vocals can't conceal and that makes the songs fatiguing to listen to. Also, ”Lessons for Beginners” has problematic strains of Uriah Heep, accuentated by Thomas Ryan's organ. I'm cynical enough to suspect that the moody, eye-catching album cover raises some expectations (and the price), but they're certainly not fulfilled by the music within. The first track is called ”Destination Nowhere”, and that's were they go, fast.

Full album

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