POWER OF ZEUS The Gospel According To Zeus LP RARE EARTH 1970 US orig RS516
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POWER OF ZEUS
One of the more obscure hard rock acts of the early '70s, Detroit's Power of Zeus became the first hard rock group to sign and record for Motown subsidiary Rare Earth, but theirs was hardly a successful relationship. The band that would become Power of Zeus was formed in 1968 by vocalist/guitarist Joe Periano, shortly after his release from the Marine Corps and while working at a Chrysler plant outside Detroit. A newspaper ad brought him together with bassist/vocalist Bill Jones, drummer Bob Michalski, and, through a moneymaking side gig with a local country band, Hammond organist Dennie Webber. Drawing most of their inspiration from British hard rock and heavy metal titans like Cream, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin, as well as the era's pervasive psychedelic stereotypes, the quartet -- then going by the name of Gangrene -- became the unofficial house band at the Wooden Nickel club, where they were eventually spotted by a local manager. Motown soon signed the band on the condition they find a new name, so both parties came up with Power of Zeus shortly before starting work on 1970's The Gospel According to Zeus LP. Although it failed to find an audience upon its release (the blame was generally laid on Motown's inexperience with recording and marketing heavy rock), the album has since become a hard-sought collector's piece and sampling favorite among crate-digging hip-hop producers. Of course, none of this did Power of Zeus much good at the time, and internal squabbles over musical direction and drug abuse soon split up the group.
"THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ZEUS"
Produced by Russ & Ralph Terrana
1970 LP RARE EARTH RECORDS RS516
PRINTED IN USA ORIGINAL PRESSING
IN SHRINK SINGLE SLEEVE
HEAVY CARDBOARD COVER
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: none
LABEL: RARE EARTH - ORANGE LABEL w/LOGO on TOP - BLACK TEXT
Catalog on cover: RS516
Catalog on labels: R 516 HS-1769 1 / R 516 HS-1770 3
Matrix / Runout (Side A, Stamped): Z4RS-3652-1-D (Etched): 1-6941-SH ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄K 8∙3∙70
Matrix / Runout (Side B, Stamped): Z4RS-3653-1-D (Etched): RS-516 ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄K HS-1770-3 8∙3∙70
On label: A Trademark of Motown Record Corp. © 1970
Produced by Russ & Ralph Terrana
On Back Sleeve: Tracklist + Credits
© 1970 Motown Record Corporation, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All Rights Reserved
Trademark Motown Record Corporation Printed in U.S.A.
tracklisting
Side A: IT COULDN'T BE ME - IN THE NIGHT - GREEN GRASS AND CLOVER
I LOST MY LOVE - THE DEATH TRIP
Side B: NO TIME - UNCERTAIN DESTINATION - REALIZATION
HARD WORKING MAN - THE SORCERER OF ISIS (THE RITUAL OF THE MOLE)
grading
RECORD EX/NEAR MINT but (please, read above description)
SLEEVE EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)
Arguably the first hard rock album released by the Motown-owned Rare Earth imprint, 1970's The Gospel According to Zeus was also the first and last recording by Detroit heavy rockers Power of Zeus. Needless to say, these two facts were inextricably linked, as the producers and engineers responsible for fueling the Motown hit factory had little or no understanding of what it took to capture the new decade's Earth-shaking hard rock sounds in their studios. Interestingly, this wound up pushing Power of Zeus' psychedelic elements -- mostly evident in their vocal harmonies and use of the Hammond organ -- to the fore at the expense of a meatier guitar, bass, and drums foundation. Also, unlike many of the era's incredibly bloated, jam-happy behemoths (e.g., Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," Deep Purple's "Child in Time"), tough, punchy songs like "It Couldn't be Me," "No Time," and "Realization" are conspicuously short and concise -- as mandated by Motown's pop architects, no doubt. And if you're expecting distortion, forget it. The uniquely forceful "The Sorcerer of Isis (The Ritual of the Mole)" offers about the only opportunity for the band to really cut loose with some instrumental overload and actual guitar shredding (fitting that they cited it as the most representative of their live shows). More often than not, however, it was trippy acoustic guitars and harpsichords that had Baroque folk ballads like "Green Grass and Cover" and "Uncertain Destination" breaking up the pacing; and the ominous-sounding "The Death Trip" is actually a rather sleepy, almost Pink Floyd-like swirl of a song. In other words, for a band professing to love the hard psych-rock of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the proto-metal of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, The Gospel According to Zeus is obviously a sonically stunted effort. And yet ironically, what at the time doomed both the band and album's chances of success has since transformed it into a true original outside any identifiable genre...(AllMusic)
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