Friday 26 November 2010

Dr. Z: A Vertigo Profile

Because it's so expensive in its original incarnation, the sole LP by Dr. Z has acquired a disproportionately bad reputation. I don't think it's great, but it's not bad, and has a very nifty sleeve. Here's what Vertigo had to say about the band and their album in September 1971:


I have found two reviews of the album, both of which can be found in my Galactic Ramble book (alongside an original press ad and a new review). The first appeared in Melody Maker on December 4th 1971, and has an especially prescient closing sentence: 'We see a couple of new Vertigo bands a month, gracing the already confused record shelves and vanishing as unnoticed as they arrived. Who picks em? Well, here’s another, a three-piece that’s roughly two years old and might really be two days… There are some interesting ideas drifting about, but that doesn’t merit a reason to make an album, put it out and expect people to buy it. I cannot imagine this selling at all.’ The other one appeared two weeks later in Record Mirror, and was a little kinder: ‘Nice concept here, and the packaging is original and well done. The only fault lies in the performance, and even then there’s nothing really wrong – it’s just that when you set your sights as philosophically high as this, you need the music to be right on. This just misses, but an extra shade of performing awareness should give Dr. Z a fantastic second LP.’ Needless to say, that never happened.

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