Atomic Rooster — Circle The Sun

Circle The Sun is the first album of new material from this British band in four decades. It finds the four-piece band once again firing up their brew of strutting rock, upfront Hammond organ jamming, and gothic-themed prog. 

The CD album appears on Esoteric Records/ Cherry Red, who in recent years have reissued the band's albums from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Atomic Rooster were formed in 1969 by Vincent Crane- keyboards, and  Carl Palmer- drums, who had just left The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Initially, the project was going to involve Brian Jones, who had been given the boot by The Rolling Stones, though, of course, sadly soon ended up dead. So instead they ended up adding Nick Graham on bass/ vocals to the band- this first version of the band existed between 1969 & 1975- releasing five albums, which shifted from prog, though to blues/funk rock meets blue-eyed soul. In the year 1980,  a second version of the band appeared, bringing together Vincent Crane – Hammond organ, keyboard bass, John Du Cann – guitars, vocals, and Preston Heyman – drums, percussion- though this line up only stood for this album/ touring, as by the bands next/ to date last album 1983's Headline News, it was just Crane, Paul Hammond on drums.

This new four-piece version of the band takes in Steve “Boltz” Bolton on guitar and vocals, Adrian Gautrey - keyboards and vocals, with Shugg Millidge -bass and Paul Everett -drums.

The album takes in ten tracks in all, and I’d say it’s a little all over the place- both tonally and in the quality of the songs. We open with “Fly Or Die” which, to be honest, sounded like just rather standard whiskey swigging late 80’s rock, with a very pronounced Hammond organ sound- think Guns & Roses or The Black Crows, with sudden ill-fitting prog-like flourishes.

But then we move into tracks like “Never 2 Lose” which creatively blends a steadily strutting/ moody blend of guitar, organ, with lightly gruff spoken/ sung vocals, and snaking percussion lines. Feeling like a prefect blend of proto psych groove & blues touched trancing rock.

Throughout the record, the rather run-of-the-mill/ below bar material is sitting next to more impactful/ rewarding fare. Take “Last Night” a rather bland/ heard it a million times before strutting blues rock with soaring choruses template. This is followed by the rising, grooving yet creepy organ of “First Impressions” which adds in great prime evil guitar chugs and great moody prog instrumental workouts.

I’m not sure if this issue is down to too many songwriting cooks, or maybe it’s due to compiling together unreleased tracks from different periods, but I really can’t think of a more inconsistent album.

So in conclusion, I felt Circle The Sun was a very hit or miss affair. So I hope that if the band does continue with this comeback, and they release more material, there’s a bit more focus/consistency to it.