Not that much of a compilation, but it is a good listen nonetheless.
Captain Beyond was quite a medium-sized thing in the early seventies. They were a somewhat super-group that included Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt (Iron Butterfly), Lee Dorman (Iron Butterfly), Bobby Caldwell (Johnny Winter's band) and Rod Evans (Deep Purple). Their self-titled debut in 1972 led to comings and goings, then a second album in 1973, followed by Evans quitting and then the odd return and twists and turns in the intervening years. Now, we have a grab bag of already existing tracks and never released items, but let's get this straight, the lion's share comes from the best-known debut, in fact almost all of them, with one interest-snagging unreleased track and one from the third album. Therefore, it's not that much of a compilation, but it is a good listen nonetheless.
The unreleased offering 'Uranus Highway' (quiet at the back, what's so funny?) is a combo of pushy and dreamy, and worth your attention. Both parts of 'I Can't Feel Nothing' have hard punching Blue Cheer power, cowbell cuteness and flowing soloing ('Pt1') as well as Proto Metal ('Pt2'), and 'Myopic Void' is a "party band" workout, while 'Icarus' glories in descending strings and a 'Peter Gunn' bass run and guitar solo jog, and you'll get sorbets and scraps too, redolent of early seventies atmosphere, for those who like that sort of thing.
Why do we have this rehash of most of the debut? To snag new punters? Yes, this sound is popular at the moment, but if they go to the most popular of Captain Beyond's albums, what do they find? The tracks they already have! Or might it be to lure those who remember it and whose pockets are now a-jingle with extra income? They will surely just pull out their seasoned vinyl copy and listen in quadrophonic stereo; there needs to be a hook the size of the Grim Reaper's scythe to bring them in. Not sure one track is going to do it.
Pretty good music though, pretty good band too, and a pretty good chance they'll be touring in some configuration soon.
Steve Swift
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