B

'Can't Live without It' started the album with a full bore, no-frills rock tune. Powered by Henderson's powerhouse of a voice, the song's slightly boozy edge has always reminded me of a cross between The-Stones meet The Faces. Having listened to this tune dozens of times, let me tell you that the secret sauce came in the form of Johnson's cataclysmic drums. Awesome performance. rating: ***** stars

2.) Fast Bluesy Woman (Taylor - Jimmy Henderson - Dave Brown - Chris Johnson) - 3:30

The acoustic opening was kind of interesting, but the song abruptly switched over to pedestrian English-guys-trying-to-sound-bluesy. There was actually a decent riff buried in the song, but it never managed to escape the pedestrian melody and plodding lyrics didn't do much to help the situation. Terry Taylor's slide solo provided the highpoint. YouTube has a clip of the band performing the song for a 1972 appearance on German television's Beat Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt94UOT_odw rating: *** stars

One of the most commercial tunes they ever crafted - glorious melody with Henderson handling the vocals in a rather restrained fashion (well for Tucky Buzzard). Curiously the US version was edited down by nearly a minute. The track was tapped as a promo single in the States:

- 1973's 'Gold Medallions' (mono) b/w 'Gold Medallions' (stereo) (Passport catalog PPA 7901)

Slinky, almost Latin-rock sounding tune that was marred by one thing - Henderson's bizarre and highly irritating vocal. He was clearly trying to get that effect, but you had to wonder why. rating: *** stars

This hard rock outfit was most famous for having been produced by Bill Wyman. Brown, Graham and Taylor had all previously been in The End. One of Tucky Buzzard's finest moments was 'Bo-Bo's Hampton' on Buzzard, which mellows in the middle and ends with some good guitar work. Elsewhere on the same album there's some Southern USA influence on 'Hanging On In There' and some good rock'n'roll with brass arrangements on 'Super Boy Rock'n'Roller 73'.

Tucky Buzzard were a British hard rock band formed in 1969 by three former members of The End.^[1] The original lineup was Jimmy Henderson (vocals), Terry Taylor (guitar), David Brown (bass), Paul Francis (drums), and Nick Graham (keyboards). Halfway through recording their debut album, Frances departed from the band and was replaced by Chris Johnson, who recorded the remaining drum parts and was credited on the album sleeve. Tucky Buzzard produced a total of five albums between 1969 and 1973.^[2] The band's producer was Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.^[3]

Terry Taylor has worked on a number of musical compositions with Bill Wyman and has played with him in a number of his bands, Willy and The Poor Boys, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, since he left The Rolling Stones. In 2006 Tucky Buzzard was featured in an article called Top 6 Classic Rock Bands You Never Knew You Didn't Know written by Dave White.^[4]

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heyday2day Oct 17 2009

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I picked up a near mint copy of this album out of a used bin for a couple of bucks hoping that some of the magic that was so obvious in their earlier incarnation as The End could be found here. I can't even find a smidgen of the subtelties, strong song writing or imaginative arrangements that makes their End catalog such a pleasure. As The End, they recorded their debut with Bill Wyman producing in early 68 only to have it released over a year later when it got hung up in the back and forth between Alan Klein and the Stones. Shame too as 'Introspection' is one of the finest albums from front to back of English psychedelic pop that was released in the 60's. Unfortunately for the band, the age of whimsical, melodic psych music was moving fast into the past and the back to roots-progressive period was fast approaching.

'Introspection' was released finally in 69 and sunk without a trace. The band continued on for awhile, recording several demos and trying to make a go of it as The End. Those late demos were released under the title 'The Last Word' by Tenth Planet about 10 years ago and the material there shows the band naturally growing with the time. All the strengths that were so prevalent on 'Introspection' are still there, tight songs, melodic, hook filled songs and an intangible atmosphere that only the best can get across and they dropped some of the psych touches in the demos. That set is excellent also and is highly recommended too.

Too bad they couldn't make a go of it as The End, instead deciding to become Tucky Buzzard and focus on more blues based no frill rock. Granted, this is the only lp by Tucky Buzzard that I own but this is just bland, straight ahead blues rock. I had hoped that some of that talent that was so prevalent in The End would have come with them into Tucky Buzzard and the type of music that they decided to focus on. Not to be as this is about as bland as this genre gets with nothing to make it stand above than the hundreds of others releasing the same kind of music. From one of the best in a genre to an also ran. Sad. Took me two bucks to learn it too. The End I was always recognize as one of briefest but best at their game. Tucky Buzzard, I'll forget as soon as I'm done with this review. That's about as bad as it get's for me.

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