Album Heaven " Brass Rock 1" 1971 UK
Heaven, a jazz rock group from Portsmouth, burst forth onto the British rock scene in 1970 when they appeared at the legendary Isle of Wight festival sharing a bill with The Who, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix et al. Making a stunning debut, the band (now managed by festival organiser Rikki Farr), soon secured a recording deal with CBS Records who signed the band for a large advance. The resulting double album 'Brass Rock 1' appeared in 1971, adorned in a lavish fold-out sleeve. Well received critically, the album failed to achieve the expected success and Heaven soon disbanded, leaving behind a fine example of classic jazz rock. Officially released on CD for the first time, this Esoteric Recordings reissue is digitally re-mastered from the original master tapes and restores the artwork of the album in full..
I first ran into “Brass Rock 1″ at a local record convention sometime in the mid 1980s. With the long tracks and expanded lineup, I figured it would be right up my alley. It was only a few bucks, so I decided to take a chance. And it was indeed up my alley, except it wasn’t what I expected. This wasn’t a typical 1970s progressive rock album. In fact, the only album I had like it back then, were the early Chicago Transit Authority albums. But Heaven were different from CTA as well. The compositions were more complicated, and the horn section was more diverse (Heaven featured a 5 piece horn section verse Chicago’s three). There really aren’t any pop tracks on Heaven, the closest they get to “normal” rock were the more blues influenced numbers. And even those were because of the vocalist, who sounded like he drank an entire fifth of scotch minutes before the recording. Almost without exception, each track features lengthy instrumental bits, with quite a bit of horn interplay, changes of meter, dynamic shifts, the whole nine yards. And, maybe best of all in the horn rock genre, a wild guitarist who does his best to attack the wah wah pedal during the solo sections ala Terry Kath. Heaven could mellow out too, and weren’t afraid to mix an acoustic guitar / flute number to set the mood. Since that time of stumbling onto Heaven, I’ve discovered many more horn rock bands, including the UK variety of a US original sound. Other than maybe Brainchild, Heaven is the most developed and, for my tastes at least, the best England has to offer in the brass rock genre. Heaven is wilder than Brainchild, but they do miss that band’s touch for crafting magical melodies.
