Angel Air\/Border<\/p>\n
JOHN DU CANN, born John William Cann in 1946, was most famed as lead singer and guitar player of ATOMIC ROOSTER. But there\u00b4s more to John than meets the eye. In 1966 he formed THE SONICS, who never took off. An amp tester by daytime, he became part of the music scene in evenings and at night. Eventually his efforts led to THE ATTACK. Signed to Decca by Don Arden, OZZY\u00b4S father-in-law, the band split up in 1968, and John formed ANDROMEDA together with Mick Hawksworth and Jack Collins. The Telecaster man soon departed for pastures green in ATOMIC ROOSTER with Carl Palmer and Vincent Crane. As their bass player left the unique bass-less band took shape. A change of direction by Vincent led to John jumping ship again, this time for BULLET\/HARD STUFF with Paul Hammond, who had become the new drummer in ATOMIC ROOSTER after Carl Palmer left for ELP, and well-travelled bass man John Gustafson. For some it might be of importance to know that he did two tours as guitarist of THIN LIZZY in between the first era of ATOMIC ROOSTER and BULLET\/HARD STUFF. Plagued by bad luck the band came close to becoming big, until a traffic accident had John and Paul bed-ridden in Belgium. After two solo singles, among them the Lee Cooper commercial \u201cDon\u00b4t Be a Dummy\u201d, ATOMIC ROOSTER reformed. But the lack of success caused a definitive break-up in 1982. Still hugely influential and much covered by e.g. PARADISE LOST the band never returned. Vincent Crane committed suicide in 1989, after years of depression, Paul Hammond died in 1992 of an accidental overdose, and now, in September 2011 John died of a suspected heart attack. But it\u00b4s time to let the music do the talking!<\/p>\n
The sixties efforts start with THE ATTACK. Their music was sixties orientated and keyboard laden, but still with the touch of John\u00b4s unmistakable guitar work. \u201cMagic in the Air\u201d has the mix of flower power and a touch of old age, and the grooves are there in \u201cMr. Pinnodmy\u00b4s Dilemma\u201d has a suggestive feeling which adds to the bands credibility somehow. Off to 1968 and ANDROMEDA. Rock was beginning to shake it\u00b4s head, and \u201cToo Old\u201d boosts John\u00b4s guitar sound and a really entertaining bass line. Their flirt with classical music, the three-part \u201cReturn to Sanity\u201d, is an ambitious nod to Holst\u00b4s \u201cThe Planet Suite\u201d. You can detect latter day hard rock and metal with symphonic twists here! The feeling of ANDROMEDA is that of a band with a mature and developed sound. Five tracks from the ATOMIC ROOSTER catalogue are included, three from the first age, and two from the second. Of the first three, two are obvious classics in the shape of \u201cTomorrow Night\u201d and Devil\u00b4s Answer\u201d. Those songs appeal to both the rock era addicts and the hard rock fans. The psychedelic tambourine boogie \u201cNight Living\u201d is no doubt included with a smile, John himself compiled this album. It\u00b4s nevertheless archetypal of the band, the voice and the Hammond organ both play important parts. Off to the unlucky BULLET\/HARD STUFF. The bluesy seventies rock, or swinging 70\u00b4s rock and roll must have brought many houses down back then. \u201cMillionaire\u201d and \u201cJay Time\u201d are examples of the ultimate in 70\u00b4s lyrics, as well riffs with 50% super glue in them. The feeling of opportunities sadly lost is legion when listening to these tracks. In the late seventies John apparently worried about releasing his singles \u201cShe\u00b4s My Woman\u201d and \u201cDon\u00b4t Be a Dummy\u201d. The songs are undoubtedly of a more commercial nature, but still offer a punch as highly effective rock with a slight retro edge. Being featured in a jeans commercial was probably as effective back then as it is today. The ending of this collection are the quite well-known \u201cDon\u00b4t Lose Your Mind\u201d and \u201cThey Took Control of You\u201d from the return of ATOMIC ROOSTER in 1980. The band may have sounded slightly oddly retro but among the recognizable guitar, Hammond and vocal parts there is also traces of adapting to the new hard rock era. If you are not acquainted to the work of the late great JOHN DU CANN, this is one of the best introductions possible. R.I.P. JOHN!<\/p>\n
Track List
\nMagic in the Air – THE ATTACK
\nMr. Pinnodmy\u00b4s Dilemma – THE ATTACK
\nToo Old – ANDROMEDA
\nReturn to Sanity (3 Parts)
\na\/ Breakdown
\nb\/ Hope
\nc\/ Conclusion – ANDROMEDA
\nTomorrow Night – ATOMIC ROOSTER
\nDevil\u00b4s Answer – ATOMIC ROOSTER
\nNight Living – ATOMIC ROOSTER
\nThe Soul that I Had – BULLET
\nFortunes Told – BULLET
\nMillionaire – HARD STUFF
\nJay Time – HARD STUFF
\nRoll a Rocket – HARD STUFF
\nShe\u00b4s My Woman – JOHN DU CANN
\nDon\u00b4t Be a Dummy – JOHN DU CANN
\nDon\u00b4t Lose Your Mind – ATOMIC ROOSTER
\nThey Took Control of You – ATOMIC ROOSTER<\/p>\n
www.angelair.co.uk <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Angel Air\/Border JOHN DU CANN, born John William Cann in 1946, was most famed as lead singer and guitar player of ATOMIC ROOSTER. But there\u00b4s more to John than meets the eye. In 1966 he formed THE SONICS, who never took off. An amp tester by daytime, he became part of the music scene in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}