Baxter - Baxter (1973, Paisley Press 2025)⭐

Artist: Baxter
Title Of Album: Baxter
Year Of Release: 1973/2025
Label: Paisley Press
Country: US
Genre: Soft prog rock
Audio codec: FLAC (*.flac)
Rip type: tracks+.cue

Baxter were one of those early-'70s US bands who can only really be described as 'rock': not heavy enough to be 'heavy', prog enough to be 'prog' or soft enough to be 'West Coast'. Their sole, eponymous album from '73 displays a mixture of styles, from the twin-guitar hard rock of '51 through the near-country balladry of Gentle Arms to the almost-prog of Renaissance Woman and Moonfire II, the two main tracks that save this album from mediocrity and gain it an extra half star. There are other progressive moments, not least in Doctor Doctor and 197Three, but too much of this album is mid-paced third-division material, which explains why you've probably never heard of them before.

Mellotron from both Doug Arioli and Steve Kirshenbaum, though I've no idea who played what and where. Renaissance Woman marks the first entrance of the Mellotron, with a cello part that couldn't be anything else, with a more 'normal' string part on Gentle Arms, leaving the album's major Mellotron interjection to side two's Moonfire II, with some very upfront strings and less of the same on closer 197Three. So; Baxter is a game of two halves, the band's proggier material being dragged down by their more straightforward stuff. However, I'm quite sure that the latter went down better on stage and, since I'm sure they relied on live work to pay the bills, who can blame them for recording some of it? Anyway, not bad, not great, with a surprising amount of Mellotron work.

Tracks
1. By The Gates (Steven Kirshenbaum) - 3:55
2. Give It All (John Linde, Peter Antell) - 2:56
3. Renaissance Woman (Steven Kirshenbaum) - 7:36
4. "51" (Steven Kirshenbaum, Lawrence Di Natale, Steve Belgrade, Edwin Damus Perry) - 4:32
5. Gentle Arms (Doug Arioli) - 3:02
6. Moonfire II (Lawrence Di Natale, Steven Kirshenbaum) - 7:32
7. Can't Find The Time (Doug Arioli) - 4:07
8. Doctor, Doctor (Steven Kirshenbaum) - 5:29
9. 197three (Lawrence Di Natale) - 4:16

Personnal:
Steven Kirshenbaum - Keyboards, Synthesizer
Lawrence Di Natale - Drums, Percussion
Edwin Damus Perry - Bass, Vocals
Steve Belgrade - Electric Guitar, Vocals
Doug Arioli - Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals