One of the pleasures of having a rather large music collection is rediscovering albums not listened to for a good while. Wandering through my collection the other day I pulled out Charge by Paladin and on giving it the first spin in years remembered what a fine album it is.
Paladin were not around long with a couple of albums in the early 1970s before disappearing. Charge being their second and final album. Tagged as progressive rock, Paladin were (in my opinion) not quite prog but more of a Uriah Heep style with some Santana-like Latin and jazzy influences. A little Traffic and a bit of Procol Harum too.
Oh: and they had a Roger Dean designed album cover for Charge. Always a good sign isn’t it…..?
The opener – Give Me Your Hand being a fine example of what the band were about. The Latin-tinged percussion based intro then has the song developing in to a Heep style rocker with the organ and guitar big riffs driving it along nicely with a bit of violin thrown in for good measure.
Well We Might has some superb bluesy slide guitar in a song which is Heep like again with more glorious typical 1970s organ/keyboard work going on.
Get One Together brings a short trippyish instrumental interlude then comes Anyway with the lush mellotron (this was the 1970s remember…..) and kind of laid back ballad style which meanders in to more “traditional” prog rock territory.
Mix Your Mind With Moonbeams is perhaps the track which gave Paladin the prog rock tag. Lots of lush keyboards mingling with the guitar and the organ solo all very trippy and atmospheric developing further in to some proper heaviness not unlike Heep’s July Moring for comparison purposes.
The closer – Watching the World Pass By is a stunner. Comes in at around nine minutes and has it all. A deceptively laid back opening with a bit of harmonica then slowly branching out as the organ and guitar join in before things properly take off in to a storming rocker with a remarkable extended guitar solo comes in to see things out in dramatic style.
Have a listen to Give Me Your Hand:
Paladin had the critical appreciation if not the sales to go with that. They were excellent musicians and did have something a little bit different to offer and for a fifty year old album, Charge stands up well if in parts being of its time.
Charge has just been re-released in a package with Paladin’s self-titled debut album with the usual formats available and reasonably priced. Do check them out. More than worthy.