Wild Butter - Wild Butter (1970) Vinyl

Produced by Eric Stevens the resulting album was surprisingly accomplished given the four members hadn't played together very long. That may also explain why the collection occasionally sounded like it was recorded by a couple of different bands and then stitched together. As an example, the atypical lead off track 'Roxanne' sounded like an outtake from Kansas or some other pseudo-progressive collective, while their cover of The Moody Blues sound like ... The Moody Blues. With Bucker, Price and Senne all contributing material the set was also kind of interesting from the perspective of hearing the band attempt to find a balance between commerciality (the ballads 'From One Who Sang the Song' and a painful cover of The Bee Gees' 'New York Mining Disaster (1941)') and a more hip 'n happenin' sound. Too bad management didn't let them opt for the second path since they would have had a killer collection. Still, the good news included the fact Garen had a nice voice that was quite capable of handling the band's diverse repertoire. Similarly, judging by material such as the fuzz guitars on 'Oh Martha' and a killer cover of Neil Young's 'I've Been Waiting For You' Senne was an above par guitarist. Personal favorites included the raging rocker 'Terribly Blind', the psych-ish 'Oh Martha' and the country-rocker ''And We Loved It. All hyperbole aside, one or two more rockers and this one be a major collectable.