Friday, March 6, 2015

Unicorn - Too Many Crooks (1976 uk, wonderful country smooth rock with prog shades, 2006 japan remaster)



Following the path laid by Buffalo Springfiled, The Byrds, Poco, The Eagles and many other Country Rock bands in the 70's, Unicorn instilled its own British flair into some pretty inspired tunes and released 4 albums in The UK and 3 in the USA on Capitol Records with the help of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. 

1976 brought us the follow-up to "Blue Pine Trees" - a dream come true for any fan of the first American album. Songs like "Weekend," "Ferry Boat," "Bullseye Bill" and "No Way Out of Here" (later made famous by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour) and to be honest, every other track on this album, are songs that have flown into my brain at any given moment over the last 29 years without warning simply because they made such an impression on me from first listen back in the day. Not one month in the last 3 decades has gone by without these Unicorn LPs making their way to my turntable, cassette deck or CD player (I burned the vinyl to CD long ago). 

Unicorn's music is timeless and perfect and anyone who has yet to appreciate this music is in for a major revelation. Even though I know this music quite well - and love it more than I can say, I envy anyone hearing it for the first time. What a rush that must be!
by Dean Sciarra
Tracks
1. Weekend - 3:22
2. Ferry Boat - 5:07
3. He's Got Pride - 4:10
4. Keep On Going - 4:36
5. Too Many Crooks - 4:26
6. Bullseye Bill - 5:24
7. Disco Dancer - 3::25
8. Easy (Smith, Waters, St. John) - 3:34
9. No Way Out Of Here - 5:20
10.In The Mood - 4:25
11.So Far Away (Bonus Track) - 3:23
All songs by Ken Baker except where indicated

The Unicorn
Ken Baker - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Pat Martin - Bass, Mandolin, Vocals
Peter Perrier - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Kevin Smith - Guitar, Slide Guitar
With
Chris Pidgeon - Keyboards
David Gilmour - Pedal Steel Guitar

Free Text