Bloodrock is available on Spotify now! A real milestone for me personally, though I'm sure most people will be scratching their heads asking "who?". At 8 years of age I can surely be forgiven for "The Partridge Family Album" being my first album purchase but I've nevertheless been embarrassed and had anyone asked I would have given the first ROCK record I bought, not too long afterwards, which was "Bloodrock 2". I counted them as my favorite band probably all the way until I was 10 even though their songs weren't played on the radio and nobody I knew (obviously) had ever heard of them. The critics always hated Bloodrock and I never quite understood the level of vitriol. They were managed by the same guy who managed Grand Funk Railroad and inevitably they would be negatively compared to that band (even when the critic had a low opinion of Grand Funk they trashed Bloodrock even more). I've tried but have never heard enough similarity between the two bands to understand the comparison. I wouldn't be surprised if these critics didn't even listen to the records. Not to suggest that they are "better" than Grand Funk (though I like them a lot more) or that they even belong in the pantheon of classic rock gods but they had a fresh, original sound, a unique and powerful vocalist, some wicked riffs, a Hammond B-3 organ as part of their signature sound, lyrics that were definitely not your typical rock and roll song fare and they always rode a tight, solid groove. And hey, they were out of Fort Worth, Texas! We were practically neighbors. So I'm sharing that second album, the first rock record I ever bought (at Drury's 5 & 10 for middle age Prague-ites with intact memories, and yes, it was a strange and wonderful miracle that they had it in stock). "Bloodrock 3" is my favorite from them, but "Bloodrock 2" is a better introduction, IMO, especially since it features the only radio hit they ever had, a true AM radio rock hit at that, which is a bizarre testament to the musical climate of the very early 70's, you may have actually heard "D.O.A.". It's a gruesome scary movie of a song about a double fatality traffic accident, complete with ambulance siren special effects, told from the point of view of the second victim to die. Some have postulated that the tragedy took place on an airplane, not a car (as a certain lyric would possibly confirm) but I've always since I was a little bitty kid sitting in the back seat freaked out by those aforementioned FX ambulances known it was about a car crash. You will not convince me otherwise. It is a creepy, creepy song and to be honest I don't like to hear it anymore. I've skipped it and may not have played it at all since their records were (belatedly) released on CD in 1997 (having been out of print since the late 70s). If by some freak of nature you decide to look deeper into the legendary catalog of Bloodrock on Spotify I would suggest that you ignore "Passage". Personell changes that had taken place by the time that album was recorded altered the sound to a very noticeable degree and not to it's benefit. Also "The Bloodrock Reunion" should be avoided like the plague. The band is still fairly solid on this one-off album but vocalist Jim Rutledge's pipes aren't as well-oiled as they were in the 70s glory days. I know some people who think their eponymous debut album is their best and it does have it's fair share of good songs. But for my money "Bloodrock 3" is the apex of their career. If for no other reason than the apocalyptic epic "Breach of Lease" I will always consider it my favorite. For some reason the band's 4th album, "Bloodrock U.S.A." hasn't been included in the releases made available to Spotify, and that's a shame because it's not only a great record it's also the last one they recorded that was worth listening to.
...originally posted on facebook
...as hoped, Bloodrock USA is now available. So are Passage and Whirlwind Tongues, but I'm not going to bother posting those two pieces of crap.
