Atomic Rooster

Atomic Rooster - Atomic Rooster (AKA Atomic Rooster 2) - 1980 - EMI

Mention the name Atomic Rooster to anyone and you immediately get visions of heavy organ grinding progressive rock, and strong hit singles such as 'Devil's Answer' and 'Tomorrow Night'. Throughout their illustrious career the band centered around the late Vincent Crane and John Du Cann, but they also had musicians sitting in including Carl Palmer (ELP), John Mccoy and Bernie Torme (Gillian) and Dave Gilmore (Pink Floyd). Released by EMI in 1980 entitled Atomic Rooster, this was the sixth album by the progressive rock band. Confusingly, the album bears the same title of the band's debut s/t album released on B&C Records in 1970. The two albums are completely different, and many Rooster fans have unofficially christened this album Atomic Rooster 2. The AR 2 album received mixed reviews on it's release. The album was never going to live up to the quality of AR's earlier albums, but for 1980 this was a great effort at emulating their seventies heavy"progressive rock" style. There is no "'Devil's Answer' or 'Tomorrow Night' here but it is a quality, and very much overlooked 1980 album from then-reformed heavy organ rockers, featuring a power trio lineup of original guitarist/ vocalist John DuCann, much-missed organist Vincent Crane (also supplying bass with footpedals) and drummer Preston Heyman. The album finds them in a confident mood as, like so many of their contemporaries (Hawkwind, Tull, Heep, Humble Pie) who had suffered at the hands of punk, they had been given a new lease of life by the NWOBHM. For a heavier progressive version of Atomic Rooster, listen to their "Made in England" and the great "Death Walks Behind You" albums. N.B: Atomic Rooster 2 has been reissued on CD with bonus tracks.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 They Took Control of You - Du Cann
2 She's My Woman - Du Cann
3 He Did It Again - Crane
4 Where's the Show - DuCann
5 In the Shadows - Du Cann
6 Do You Know Who's Looking for You? - Crane, DuCann
7 Don't Lose Your Mind - Cann
8 Watch Out - Crane
9 I Can't Stand It - Du Cann
10 Lost in Space - Crane, DuCann

BAND

John Cann - Guitar
Vincent Crane R.I.P - Keyboards
Preston Heyman - Drums

SHORT BIO

Atomic Rooster was a British progressive-rock group formed in 1969 with an original lineup of Vincent Crane (organ), Nick Graham (bass), and Carl Palmer (drums). Their debut album, Atomic Rooster, hit number 49 in the U.K. in June 1970, after which Graham and Palmer left the group. Crane maintained the name and recruited guitarist/singer John Cann and drummer Paul Hammond for the second album, Death Walks Behind You, which hit number 12 in the U.K., where it featured the number 11 single "Tomorrow Night," and number 90 in the U.S. Pete French of Cactus assisted on the third album, In Hearing Of, which featured the number-four U.K. single "The Devil's Answer" and reached number 18 in England and number 167 in America. Then the group split up again, and again Crane assembled a new Atomic Rooster, this time featuring singer Chris Farlowe, guitarist Steve Bolton, bassist Bill Smith, and drummer Rick Parnell. Made in England reached number 149 in the U.S. in 1972, but the group had split again by 1974. Crane fronted lineups of Atomic Rooster into the '80s, before taking up with Dexys Midnight Runners in 1983. In 1989, he committed suicide. © William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com