Lost Nation

obal viz foto
deska vyborny stav

A1 Tall Ivory Castle
Written-By – L. Zelanka, R. Stults
4:48
A2 Rome
Written-By – L. Zelanka, R. Stults
4:05
A3 Little Boy
Written-By – C. Webb, R. Stults
4:27
A4 Images
Written-By – C. Webb, R. Stults
6:50
B1 Seven Minute Woman
Written-By – C. Webb, R. Stults
5:05
B2 Shadows Within You
Written-By – L. Zelanka, R. Stults
4:36
B3 She'll Take You
Written-By – C. Webb, R. Stults
7:14
B4 Falling Inside My Mind
Written-By – L. Zelanka, R. Stults
7:17
=================================================
Bass – Art Wolfe
Drums – Ron Fuller
Guitar – Craig Webb
Keyboards, Organ – Larry Zelanka
Producer – Ollie McLaughlin
Vocals – Ron Stults
============================================
Superb album in the style of what people now call "proto-prog". Essentially it is an amalgam of late psych rock, early Prog and hard rock. There were lots of bands from the period 1968-71 that encompassed these three elements, none more so than early Deep Purple and that's who this lot remind me of most. Although, strictly speaking, it is the similarity of Jon Lord's organ work of this period (DP's first three albums) that come across the strongest because they certainly don't sound much like Deep Purple. Oddly few bands of this type were from the States, as this lot are, and they do a pretty fair imitation of early European heavy Prog rock, whilst retaining a real USA psychedelic sound. It is melodic in a heavy style with plenty of organ, including Hammond. Great riffing and soloing abound and it is always fun.
The copy I have is a needle-drop from vinyl but there is a CD version still available and I will be tracking it down if at all possible.
=============================================
Detroit's Lost Nation recalls another band from nearby Ann Arbor: SRC. Especially at the time of "Traveler's Tale". There's a distinct late psych vibe here (the dreamy vocals and harmonies are a pure giveaway). The driving guitars and Hammond Organ call out Deep Purple from their late 60s era, and the music definitely carries over into progressive rock territory with their sophisticated development of composition - especially over the longer tracks of which there are a few. It's a pity Lost Nation didn't catch on, as they certainly were one of the stronger groups to emerge from the American confused year of 1970. For my tastes, the best album on the Rare Earth label.
==========================================
Tremendous heavy guitar psych with big doomy apocalyptic aspirations.  Don’t just this book by its cover – despite the “deep” graffiti, you’d swear this lot was the hillbilly Buckinghams by lookin’ at ‘em.  Or maybe the backwoods Byrds, paying homage to the Notorious Byrd Brothers cover without having to substitute a horse’s ass for one of their guitarists.  No sirree, this was actually a big (and pleasant) surprise for me – surprised because it’s nice to know that, this late in the game, I can still get blown away by something I’ve overlooked all these years.  Paradise Lost is just such a record.  Opener “Ivory Castle” pushes all the right psych-o-delic buttons – trippy distorted vocals, an instantly likable and memorable melody, and a killer bass/organ rhythm line.  It’s one of those moments where you hear a song for the first time and you know you’re gonna play it another twenty times.  As great as “Ivory Castle” is, though, the Lost Nation boys wanna play it heavy when they can.  So the cosmic hippie psych gives way to what they’re really good at on second track “Rome,” and that’s a full, constricted, roaring Sabbath/Deep Purple-like heavy sound.  Everything here is as epic as the empire they’re singing about – a big ol’ hairy skull-crushing guitar riff, frenetic thrash-n-burn drums, Cream-like wailing background vocals, and plenty of soaring flash guitar solos for you bedroom air guitar players.  Things get even more epic – as in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Holy S*** Is This The Rapture epic – on the 7-minute “Images,” which closely resembles Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”  A simple but powerful Satanic guitar riff anchors things, while big swaths of Jon Lord organ bathe it in a Wagnerian grandeur, breaking only for a few trippy, moody interludes where we can only guess the invading Viking horde are taking short yoga breaks.  At seven long, throat-grabbing minutes, “Images” is a breathtaking monster, a “Kashmir” for the small label crowd, a bona fide heavy sludge rock masterpiece.  More evil Gotterdammerung guitar riffs return on the sinister “Shadows Within You,” and then they throw two more bones to the psych crowd, starting with the 7:14 “She’ll Take You.”  With its mad Russian Cossack dance midsection and big bridge-collapsing fuzzy power chords, it’s the very definition of “heavy psych.”  The last and final track, “Falling Through My Mind,” also tops the seven-minute mark, but never once noodles around with needless showoffy solos.  Instead it maintains a quiet, meditative reflective psych prog vibe the whole way, patient and trippy like the best acid-drenched krautrock.  Like I said, it’s been a long time since an entire album knocked me for a loop like this one did, and Lost Nation’s Paradise Lost is about as great a heavy psych prog album as you’re likely to hear, and that includes the ones from the big label boys.  It’s punishing, but like Lucy Lawless in EuroTrip, it’s a thrashing you’ll thoroughly enjoy.