Detective It Takes One To Know One Review by Gary Hill
I remember buying this years ago on vinyl. I'm a Yes fanatic, so the fact that Tony Kaye was in the band meant I had to have it for my collection. I remember not particularly liking it, though. Now that I've had the chance to spin this new reissue (the LP is still in my collection, but I haven't listened to it in years), I have found the album is strong. It's not Yes-like, which meant it didn't meet my expectations, but it's strong. Among the rest of the lineup is Michael Des Barres. The music here is mainstream hard rock of the kind that was so prevalent in the 1970s.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2017 Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Help Me Up
This is a great high energy 70s rocker. It's a lot of fun.
Competition There is definitely some bluesy rock on display here. This even leans toward metal in some ways. It's another great rocker. This is trademark 70s music and works quite well. There are definitely things here that make me think of Led Zeppelin.
Are You Talkin' To Me? While there are no big changes here, this is another straightforward rocker. It's a classy tune on the blues rock end of things. In some ways this feels like what you might get if you mixed Led Zeppelin with early Cheap Trick and Aerosmith.
Dynamite Speaking of Led Zeppelin, this really has a lot of that vibe for sure. It's another hard rocker that's quite cool. It's not a big change, but a big change isn't necessary.
Something Beautiful There is a bit of a prog rock edge to this cut. It's more of a classy pop rocker with a lot of energy and vibe. It definitely leans toward fusion at times in its jamming.
Warm Love No big surprises, this is just another mainstream rocker. It's melodic and effective.
Betcha Won't Dance A high energy rocker, this is part Black Oak Arkansas and part Led Zeppelin.
Fever i love the bass work on this. There is some cool slide guitar, too. This isn't a huge change, but to me, it's better than much of the rest of the album. It just drives in some great ways. There is some smoking hot instrumental work on this thing.
Tear Jerker As this starts there is a weird bit of psychedelia turned hard rock jamming. Then it works out to a jam that's so like Led Zeppelin it's rather scary. The keyboards bring a bit of Yes to the table. The chorus takes it into a more mainstream rocking sound, but this is a cool cut.
