After a period of almost 30 years, and with this work still selling, I thought it would be appropriate to review it- warts and all. Bare in mind that at this distance, my recollection of events is a little fuzzy, but then I am mainly concerned with the music, not its circumstance, as is any record buyer.

The CD, released by Festival in the early nineties, is obtainable from any retailer at the princely sum of $14.95. It is a very bad replica of the original master – harsh would describe the sound quality. Obviously, Festival in their wisdom, decided not to re-master, as projected sales would be low. My royalty cheques reflect that.

TRACK 1: At the Mountains of Madness.

My Stratocaster opens the track. It was plugged through a Roto-Vibe pedal, the late Mick Jurds' of Fraternity, and then into his Strauss Polka Amp. Bit thin by today's standards, but very atmospheric. Neale`s monologue follows, where he describes a walk in the country at the end of which he eats an hallucinogenic apple, this tends to change things slightly!!! At this point I was after a swirling mass of sound to introduce the next part, but what we got was lame panel feedback. Nowhere near the maelstrom I had in mind. The core rhythm track is very good and driving, great vox from Neale and some tasty licks from yours truly. The vocal was EQ'd to sound like it was coming down a pipe. Al's drumming is spot on. The whole thing goes a bit pear shaped at the end, with Neale's tape loop of the word Madness sounding more like Mad-nurse! It fades out using more panel feedback – Ugh!

TRACK 2: On this Day that I die.

A broken chord figure starts off this track, still using the same rig as in #1. Reverse cymbal intro's the Vox. Very good vocal from Neale. Tight rhythm section from Bob and Al. Similar chord progression to Dear Prudence, or White Room. Middle section features some ham-fisted piano from yours truly. Timing is not the best. Nice harmony from Neale at this point, pity my guitar solo wasn't more in tune in the following section. Too emotional, I guess. Unfortunately, it goes pear-shaped in the outro, which is full of Clapton-esque guitar cliches. Neale's vox carries it out.

TRACK 3: Seasons of Change.

Tudor England revisited in the verses. Ten-dollar gut guitar owned by Richard Batchens. Out-of-tune Strat, mercifully under-mixed. Wonderful recorder by the late Bon Scott. Poor Bonnie, we had to change key from E minor to Eb minor to suit Neale's range, and he had a lot of problems tuning the thing. Neale's vox was compromised by a cold, but is still great. The string arrangements were my first professional attempt at orchestration, only marred by the fact they were done from memory, the playing has a lot of bravura – should have been double tracked. Ends on the Mediant-Dominant, with a wonderful cry of anguish from Neale over a low cello phase – possibly the best part. Actually, this is my least favorite track, being very derivative. It always sounded thin on stage, because of the lack of players. Strangely enough, I've never been able to "improve" on it. {I have re-recorded it a number of times in a number of ways}.

TRACK 4: Mango's Theme.

Egyptian belly-dance music, John Spooner called it. More like "In a Persian Market" The name came from "For a Few Dollars More" but I got it wrong. Eastwood's character was called "Il Monco", in the movie. Based on the last chord of "Seasons", it was any excuse to show what I thought were my prodidious guitar skills of the time. It went well on stage though, and this version does capture some of that excitement. Very good string ensemble, and a wonderful solo by a young violinist whom I didn't get the name of at the time. To him, my thanks. I "conducted" the string section and I would imagine it was all the players could do to keep a straight face seeing me flap my arms around like a windmill! IT still works though and I am proud of this one. The axe was my trusty sunburst Strat {post-CBS} and my Lenard Amp with Watkins Echo unit/pre-amp. The section after the guitar solo in F# was edited to make it shorter and get rid of some wrong notes I played at the tail of the solo. The tag cadenza was a pastiche of takes done over several sessions, listen and you'll hear the different tones between phases.

TRACK 5: Long Legged Lovely.

This was a stage success early on. The riffs are very Zeppelin. Neale's laugh at the start was an out-take. The middle instrumental section is quite good, if a little long in getting to the point. The build up section is still exciting. Same rig as Mango's. Al drumming drives it along and Bob's bass is tight. Some out-of-tuneness in the guitar overdubs. Recorded months earlier than 1,2,3,4.

TRACK 6: The Rat Suite.

Tuco Benedicto Juan Maria Ramirez, otherwise known as the "Rat". The character Eli Wallach played in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Neale thought it was about a rodent! He wrote lyrics accordingly. Very sectional. Some wonky guitar o/ds. I borrowed a Gibson SG for the licks and the harmonics were out. Good vox again from Neale. Bon plays percussion and John Bisset, electric piano on some sections. "The Trap" and Spanish Blues are well done for live. After this there was supposed to be a freak-out section a la Hendrix at Woodstock, but my tremolo arm broke in the middle. Bonnie and Al took over. We glossed over this in post-production by adding tape flanging and half speed dialogue. It is hard to say how successful this is now but it worked at the time.

To me now, the influences are very apparent on the record. Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton, Free, Chicago Blues, Kettleby, Greensleeves, Morrocone, Ravel, Arabic motives. Everyone else involved was blissfully unaware of them. Maybe that was a good thing, as they put their hearts into their parts, and made it what it is. Thanks guys.

When Bon Scott died I lost dear friend, and the world lost a great musician and entertainer.

NO, I would NOT like to redo this work with today's technology, but a better re-mastering job on it is certainly needed.

J.R.

Article taken from John Robinson's web site.