Bakerloo: Remastered And Expanded Edition

60年代後期に結成されたUKのプログレッシブ・ロックバンド、ベイカールーの唯一のアルバム『Bakerloo』(69年)にボーナストラックを追加した拡大エディション。リマスター盤。ジャズ的なアドリブを多く取り入れつつ、フォークやクラシックの要素も持ち合わせる幅のあるブルースロック。アルバム発表後に解散し、ギター/ボーカルのクレム・クレムソンはコロシアムへ、ドラムスのキース・ベイカーはユーライア・ヒープへ加入した。バンドの活動期間は1年。ボーナストラックにはシングルB面と4曲のアウトテイクを収録。ブックレットにはオリジナルアルバムのジャケットと最新のライナーノーツを掲載。

One of the first acts signed to the fledgling Harvest label in 1969, Bakerloo were very much a product of their time, a hard-hitting progressive blues band whose predilections ranged from a straightforward assimilation of Willie Dixon to some positively dazzling flashes of instrumental prowess. Guitarist Dave Clempson's "Big Bear Folly," the opening cut on the band's first and only album, is a dazzling Ten Years After-style showcase, while a jazzy variation on a theme of Bach, the aptly titled "Driving Bachwards," proves that the band wasn't averse to messing with the classics, either. The quartet's virtuosity occasionally overwhelms the songs themselves, although there is no shortage of gripping atmosphere. Bassist Terry Poole unleashes an almost sepulchral vocal across the stygian "Last Blues," a seven-minute marathon that swiftly develops into a full-fledged heavy rocker, punctuated by mood shifts that amount to separate movements -- it's a magnificent piece, rendered with both musical precision and some of producer Gus Dudgeon's most inspired washes and effects. Impressive, too, is "Son of Moonshine," a distorted metal effort that clocks in at double that length and combines Clempson's intensive guitar soloing with a desperately driving blues rhythm. Period comparisons with Cream and early Led Zeppelin really weren't that far off the mark. Bakerloo were not long for this earth -- Clempson quit to join Colosseum shortly after the album's release; Poole reappeared alongside Graham Bond; drummer Keith Baker departed for Uriah Heep; and Bakerloo itself disappeared off the shelves fairly quickly. ~ Dave Thompson|