Taste: On The Boards - 1970

As with the previous album, the opener is a stonker. 

What's Going On is classic muscular early seventies rock, overflowing with power and, of course, a great mid-song guitar solo.  It features that wonderful seventies stereo separation too. Railway And Gun is enhanced by some gentle, melodic acoustic guitar before the big chunky riffs come in. It is a fine example of the merging of acoustic and electric sounds that Taste did so well. Yes, it has another killer solo - no surprise there. 

The lengthy jam of It's Happened Before, I'll Happen Again is a classic example of how early seventies rock flirted with jazz at times. Check out Gallagher's catchy, jazz guitar and the jaunty bass backing an archetypal seventies proggy vocal. All very Caravan-ish. Instrumentally, it's pretty damn perfect. Free-form saxophone is also used, surprisingly, and to great effect. 

The short If The Day Was Any Longer is a mix of folk and soft rock, with a nice bit of harmonica in the middle. Again, it is so very early seventies. Morning Sun returns to chunky, grinding Status Quo-esque riffage. Once more it dabbles in acoustic vibes in places. so many groups must ave been influenced by this, early Queen for one, Thin Lizzy's early work, and Mott The Hoople from the same era.

The guitar work in the Jethro Tull-ish Eat My Words is delicious. The floaty, jazzy (listen to that guitar) On The Boards is very much of its time but is none the worse for it. If I Don't Sing I'll Cry surely had an effect on Status Quo at the time. It sounds so like some of their immediately subsequent stuff (Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon and Dog Of Two Head albums). More impressive harmonica features on this one. See Here is a gentle, acoustic guitar and vocal ballad before the album finishes with more trademark chuggy riffing on I'll Remember which also finds time for some catchy jazzing. Like its predecessor, this was a really good album that paved the way for Gallagher's next power trio offering, as he would lave the group soon after. I'll reiterate too that the sound on it is superb. 

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