Side 1
Not Fragile
Rock Is My Life, And This Is My Song
Roll On Down The Highway
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
Free Wheelin'

Side 2
Sledgehammer
Blue Moanin'
Second Hand
Givin' It All Away

Randy Bachman - lead guitar, vocals
C.F. Turner - bass, vocals
Blair Thornton - 2nd guitar
Rob Bachman - drums


After splitting from The Guess Who, big fat bearded bear guitar hero Randy Bachman formed Bachman-Turner Overdrive (henceforth: BTO) with fellow big fat bearded bear bass player C.F. Turner. The "Overdrive" part comes from the title of a truck driver's magazine, and that's appropriate cuz these guys look like truck drivers and play blue collar music that sounds like an 18 wheeler blasting down an endless Western Canadian highway at 120kmh.

There's hardly a whiff of "prog" to be found, though the musicianship is consistently excellent and tasteful. Randy Bachman is a notable Unsung guitar stylist, playing the most melodic heavy lead guitar that I can think of -- he never wanks or wails, he "sings" catchy tunes through his instrument (recall those tasty guitar leads on "American Woman"?) Turner's bass playing is an effective blend of heavy Led and McCartneyesque hooks, and the two of them make a great vocal tag team: Randy almost never raises his voice, while C.F. never stops bellowing and shouting. The other two guys are fine journeymen rockers as well, if sorta non-descript.

The song "Not Fragile" starts with an ominous bass riff and phased symbol splashes, like the first drops of rain under darkening skies before a storm. Then the guitars and drums come in, BOOM! A thunderous yet simple and mechanical riff that recalls the first couple of Stooges albums. Turner wails and belows in the most manly way through this macho workin' man's (un)sentiment: "You say we play heavy music? Huh! Well is a thunderhead just a cloud?"

"Rock Is My Life . . . " is such a perfect embodiment of the Road Weary Rock Band Anthem that it makes me think the Minutemen based "Tour Spiel" directly on this tune. And like that Minutemen number, BTO does transcend the pitfall cliches of this subject matter with emotive images of Randy playing his guitar all alone in a hotel room after the show, missing dead rock star friends, and the oh-so-true reflection "you're only good as your last record / I know that someday we'll be gone."

"Roll On Down The Highway" was a sizable hit and it's a song meant for driving fast, simple & plain. Turner yowls on down the road while the rhythm section steadily churns like a six ton piston pumpin'. Crank up the 8 track and floor it!

"You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" is probably the loadstone of BTO's career, being a monster #1 pop hit (and recycled in TV commercials ever since.) It's a pleasant enough hummable three-chord Doobie Brothers-ish acoustic guitar strummin' boppin' along boogie. The most notable thing is probably Randy's singing: he's not really lead singer material in the first place, with a high nasal sorta hippy whine. And to make it a even odder (though also making for a very memorable pop hook) he stutters through the lyrics ala "My Generation."

"Free Wheelin'" is an instrumental written by Thornton and dedicated to Duane Allman. It sounds like Blue Oyster Cult jamming on "Radar Love", plus slide guitars.

"Sledgehammer" is another blue caller ur-MAN cromag number, dynamically going back and forth between a headache-inducingly loud chorus riff that sounds like AC/DC in slow motion (Turner shrieks: "YER LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER BAYBAY, POUNDING ON MY HEART!!!") and Randy singing the verses over gently twangy 60's rock.

Turner's "Blue Moanin'" is, er, a "blues" number of the sort Foghat based their career on. All I can say is it works OK in the flow of the album as a bit of a break between the skullcrushers before and after it.

Bachman's "Second Hand" is a bona fide hard rock gem of it's era, with a Sabbathoid turnaround riff and wailing wah wah guitar solos. A real interesting lyric too, though I'm not sure what it means -- he wants to throw everything away and then "let's start the world over again / and get it second hand!" (I wonder if it's a reference to The Guess Who's hit "Hand Me Down World"?)

"Givin' It All Away" is the fastest tune on the album, another good charging down the road with the 8-track blasting slice of pop rock, this time written by Thornton. Open-hearted hippyesque lyrics, also a nice bit where both guitars and the bass all play the hook/lick together in 3-part harmony, and a funny fakeout ending where they riff away at max power while someone intones "not! . . . fragile! . . . " with a bunch of echo.

In the grand scheme of things "Not Fragile" is certainly not in the same league as 70's hard rock masterpieces like "Led Zeppelin IV" or "Paranoid", but it's as good as most Blue Oyster Cult records and certainly several rungs above your Foghats and Montroses!

And since it was a huge seller in its time (#1 in the US & Canada) and today is totally derided as useless unhip fogey music (critical reappraisal? nope!) it should be an easy score in the bargain bin of your local vinyl merchant.

Also available in Quad-8 Tape format (so says the liner notes.)

Reviews Index