DAZED - ROCKER - Dangerous

Hear The Track Here

T'ain't me who is shouting (Ed: for a change) blame Dazed who obviously believes that big is better. Either that or he has the same problem Mike (NAV) Foster has - a blind spot for the Caps Lock key. There again, maybe they have a point and that the BIGGER your name is, the more you get noticed. Answers on a signed banknote please. Not that Dazed (or NAV for that matter) need to get any more noticed. Dazed, in part-ic-u-lar, should need no introduction (at least to those on Mixposure, and Soundclick time for you to catch up) because he is primarily the man responsible for the resurrection and re-energising of the Mixposure name. Goes back to what I was saying in an earlier review of 333maxwell, the commitment here isn't just to the music (their own or anyone else's) it's towards building a community and that combination always gets top marks with me. A man to be prized and praised to the skies.

Now, let me sharpen me knives and get down to the music...

Dazed-Rocker (and **** the caps!) is in fact a five man collaboration, something Dazed seems to do a lot (Ed: I know, another musical slut. Doncha just love 'em). The initial music, guitars and production was by Gary Hart, Dazed supplied the vocal and lyrics, Phil Robertson pounded the crap out of his drumkit and Geoff Taye hammers the point home on bass. THEN it was mixed and mastered by Kent Clemmons and the result is something that could easily go to 11. If you ever wanted to touch the real spirit of classic rock, bend your ears around this bad boy and crank it up. Have to say when I first started listening to this I was struck again about the difference between American classic rock and the Euro/UK variety, and the difficulties in getting the point across in either direction.

The more I listened though, the more the accent wore off and the music won out. With a great vocal performance, Dazed shows that he does recognise where this music came from because I was hearing all kinds of English influences from Black Sabbath to the Who. It pays, then, to give this rock some time to settle in, I'm still noticing things and I've worn the crap out of it as well as being bombarded by it whenever I happen to tune into Mix Radio. There again, I am a consummate rock animal to whom low volume is anathema; play it loud and play it proud. These guys certainly should be.

MUST HAVE hard classic rock.