Riff Raff - Original Man (1974)

The second album from this British band.

Riff Raff was a sextet on this album with a lineup of woodwinds, cello, percussions, flute, bass, drums, keyboards, guitars and vocals.

I was not the biggest fan of their self-titled debut album from 1973. Too much pop and blues for my liking. But I heard from ProgArchives and others that Original Man was a far better album. So I dug in and started some listening sessions on that album.

There is still a lot of references to Chicago on this album too. But the band had moved some steps to the left and into some proper jazz and fusion. There is still a lot of progressive rock on this album too.

The band has left the more naive pop music behind them (Read: On their debut album) and had become more mature. The music is also far more beefy with some hints of hard rock too.

The label "Jazz rock" is very fitting here. The music here is not really fusion as the band has not really fused jazz and rock. Well, not in a large degree.

The jazz and fusion stuff here is really, really good with some very good guitars, woodwinds and keyboards thundering along. And to my surprise, the rock stuff is also very good. The vocals really rips and ditto for the other instruments too. The rock stuff reminds me a lot about Bad Company.

This three quarters of an hour long album is really breezy and cool. Cool music all way long. And there is a good rhythm and a good vibe throughout.

Original Man is really a hidden gem and one to discover. Check out this little gem.

3.5 points