KATMANDU "1991" LP Original press Flogging Molly Fastway Near-MINT vinyl

$

99

#884 visually graded vinyl under a bright light Near-MINT jacket EX inner sleeve NO Seamsplits...incredible European original press!!
Between the eighties and the nineties, before the unprecedented commercial and media success of Nirvana's "Nevermind" completely changed the marketing landscape in the hard&heavy field, record companies were busy investing in a plethora of American and British musical groups dedicated to various and articulated nuances of melodic metal (AOR, Street, Glam, Pomp, Class...), giving them a ruthless chance in the form of a debut album, recorded and produced with all the trimmings, and then almost never accompanied by adequate promotional initiatives. The album and the band had to make it on their own... if this didn't happen, it was highly unlikely they would get a second chance: the money tap was promptly shut off, and the contract not renewed. 
Amidst that heap of bands that lasted the span of an album, there were several of considerable value, deserving of better fate: one of them was this multi-racial and cosmopolitan quartet based in Los Angeles (an Irish singer who emigrated to the USA, a Swiss guitarist of Canadian origin who also emigrated to California, an African American bassist, and a Hispanic drummer). The genre is a rock blues that bends to the trends of those years mainly due to the guitarist's approach (Mandy Meyer, ex-Asia and later in Gotthard, then Krokus, is the usual, decent Van Halen disciple: fast, precise, anonymous), driven by a more than solid rhythm section and with the jewel in the crown being the leader Dave King, the Irishman, ex-Fastway, with a strong and penetrating, dominant voice.
The noble heart of the album lies in the fourth/fifth/sixth track succession, namely two semi-acoustic ballads of wonderful atmosphere interspersed with a long, drawn-out blues in the style of "Dazed And Confused". The best of all is perhaps the sixth track "Heart And Soul", a heavy ballad à la Led Zeppelin III, made extremely evocative by the Celtic and dramatic echoes of King's gallant and tense voice, chanting powerfully over the ancestral, rich, warm sound of Meyer's fine acoustic guitars. The other semi-acoustic number "Sometime Again" is not far behind: it starts with the clatter of 12 strings and the invaluable voice of the frontman, that sounds like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at Bron-Y-Aur, in Wales, as they develop the unsurpassable folk side of Zeppelin's production. The track then proceeds in a more choral manner, with the mighty King singing the first verse intimately, the second with moderate push, and the last with incredible fervor, power, and heartfelt emotion, as only a great vocalist can.
 The super blues mentioned above is called "When The Rain Comes" and begins softly until the entry of a heavily distorted guitar sets it ablaze, then accompanies it to the central instrumental section, played on a completely different and galloping rhythm, very well crafted, up to the slowdown and restoration of the initial drawn-out blues, for a final verse shouted by King in his own way. It is a great and noble re-proposition of seventies British blues... the only anomaly that sets it apart from that decade is the poor, excessive reverb on the snare drum, a true must in any rock production of the era....
.Other notable episodes include a cover of U2, Dubliners and therefore fellow citizens of the singer: the remarkable "God Part II" (from "Rattle And Hum", released three years earlier) is reinterpreted, and the result is excellent, better than the original. Also very good is "Let The Heartache Begin" with great, emotional verses that unfortunately diminish in a much less inspired chorus. The last call is for "Only The Good Die Young", divided into two parts: the first (and best) is an unfortunately very short intro of Meyer with classical guitars, the second an angry but predictable eighties hard rock.... 
 The rest shines much less and ends up strongly diminishing the value of the album, otherwise stellar. These are numbers very close to the then-fashionable class metal, sometimes dotted with the typical, cloying choruses à la Bon Jovi, or the meowing, too-effected guitars à la Steve Vai and so on. These exercises of Los Angeles party atmosphere, likely made for strictly commercial purposes, do not suit an intense, dramatic, vibrant, genuine voice like that of the red-haired band leader. Following this positive but commercially unfortunate experience, the talented King turned to an entirely different genre, following in the footsteps of the Pogues and forming his own Celtic punk band named Flogging Molly. Dave long since cut his incredible red mane and is also much less skinny than during the Katmandü era, but his voice has remained intact and continues to break through, thrilling and volcanic.