When Yardbird alums, Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty joined up with Medicine Head singer, John Fiddler, nobody expected anything major to come from. Let alone that their self-titled debut would fly up the charts in 1984 to land at number forty-five on the Billboard 200.
Plans for a tour followed, but didn't resonate with Samwell-Smith, Dreja, and McCarty, who hated the idea of hitting the open road. This would be to Fiddler's dismay and ultimately lead to frictions that would see him departing after contributing in part to their second studio album. In addition to Fiddler, Jeff Beck, who had appeared as a guest guitarist on their debut, opted to not take part in the second album. This too was purportedly driven by the trio's refusal to tour.
This led to a multitude of lead singers, and guitarists, which included Graham Parker, Ian Dury, Roger Chapman, Steve Hackett, and Jimmy Page, in addition to Fiddler (just to name a few), contributing to what would become 1986's Strange Land. The end result was described by critics as uneven, without much spark, but possibly still appealing to hear by mainstream rock fans.
Upon its release, the album only received modest reception, faltering on the Billboard 200 at one hundred seventy-seven. Without momentum or a stable lineup, the band formally disbanded in 1987.
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Yes, this album sounds incredibly disjointed. Bouncing around from singer to singer makes it difficult to get into, and some songs, such as the thick British accent laden Average are painful to get through. Overall, it just feels like a bunch of albums that didn't have enough tracks, so they got mashed together into one.
With that said, there are a couple that are better than the rest, but still not what I would call amazing. Those include Get It While You Can (lead vocals by Parker), House On Fire, Trouble, and Hanging From The Wreckage (all three sung by Fiddler). Still, these are nothing I would actively seek out to hear again.
The vocals of Chapman were absolutely awful. His bouncy electric goat style grates on the nerves fast. Though he only sung on two of the tracks, this was more than enough for me, and I skipped on the second, ironically, the title track of the album.
It really is a shame to come off their debut, only to get this half-hearted follow-up. I'm honestly surprised Epic Records didn't just shelve this project and call it a day. At most, they could have simply coupled together the tracks from Fiddler, and released an EP. This way at least the end result would have been coherent.
The band grabbed a moment in time, but in the end showed what happens when members don't align in their goals and ultimately refuse to promote their own success. While Samwell-Smith, Dreja, and McCarty would return to the stage together to perform as a resurrected Yardbirds starting in 1990, Box Of Frogs would never perform together again.
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And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!
Puppet Master was a franchise I tried to get into back in the day and even owned the first four or five on VHS. Sadly, I just couldn't. Either I missed the premise completely, or the whole thing just didn't interest me. I did recently pick up a nine-film DVD set, so I'm ready to give them another go.
