Bloodrock – Passage

Such a strange album. It's not the worst album I've ever heard by any means, but after listening, it begs the question : why did Capitol okay this album release? Did they hear it and thing they'd cash in on prog rock popularity? Because surely the American (Texas) fans of Bloodrock's heavy downer rock weren't thrilled with this new sound. If this was intended for the prog-head, it surely failed miserably, as the prog flourishes are pace-male and quite cheesy. It's as if the band said "right here let's sound like Tull", "okay here let's use an ELP type synth fill."
I love prog, but this just isn't good in terms of prog.
The band didn't totally abandon their hard rock roots for this record, but with 2 key members out of the band, it just isn't the same Bloodrock.
In all honesty I do enjoy some of the record, most notably the track "Juice".

But possibly the weirdest thing about this album is that the band ends up producing a sound that predates, and sounds eerily similar to the first Kansas albums. No, not the violin, but the tempo of the tracks and a similar vocal pitch make Kansas an immediate comparison. Truly makes me wonder if this mess of an album rubbed off on the great Kansas during their infancy. I can't say I'd be surprised, as they and Bloodrock occupied a similar region of the country.

Side note: really sweet looking album cover on this one. Great colors and a fun one to explore.