Dryewater - Southpaw (1974)

Early 70s burnout rock with an appealingly murky soundscape that brings a cold, resigned atmosphere to the preceedings. The 60s were long dead by this point. Strong, bluesy vocals and adventurous but solid instrumentation keep things interesting for the most part, although there are a few lapses into bar-band mundanity. Opening "Winterground" lives up to its name with an atmosphere of icy detachment and dead trees, complimenting the bluesy vocals, and is my favourite track on the album. Lots of Who influence scattered throughout the record, as well as solid FM rock moves, but "Thunder" and "Revelation" play it hard and psychy, with some nice flanged guitar. Overall, a flawed but interesting listen that unfortunately doesn't live up to the promise of its opening track.

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