This is the 3rd album by Mahogany Rush, and the last before they were to be known as Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. This is also the last as a three piece, as Frank’s brother Vince would be added to the line up.
Hailing from Montreal, and being on the local Kotai label, their last before signing his soul away to CBS (something that would annoy Frank right up until the present day). This album is probably the point where the band changed from being a sixties psychedelic influenced band, into a more hard rockin’ affair – as it’s split about 50/50 between the two. Make no mistake though, this is all about Frank and the amazing player he is. Everyone is probably aware of the press about him being the reincarnation of Jimi Hendrix after a bad acid trip which put him in hospital. If you can try and ignore that and concentrate on Frank the amazing musician, we can get started, even though vocally at times he is a dead ringer for Hendrix, check out The King Who Stole The Universe.
Tales Of The Spanish Warrior gets things underway in great style with an up tempo groover with some killer Frank guitar. Land Of A 1000 Nights has a spacey theme and vibe going on, and is rescued again by killer playing. Last song of the first side is Moonlight Lady, and it has that late sixties hippy feel to it. Opening up Side 2 is Dancing Lady, a typical sounding funky groove of the period. The almost jazz groover, Dance, follows with Frank showing his virtuosity with differing styles, and annoyingly the fade out kicks in just as Frank is getting started. The last 3 tracks are basically more of the same, with Strange Universe the title track having Corky Laing on drums.
There are hints of what would come later on here, but although enjoyable, it’s not an essential purchase.
6/10 from The Grooveman.
