Bux - We Came To Play (1976)
Bux were a successful club act on the circuit in the DC area between 1972 and 1974. In the earliest phases of the band, the lineup included two future Angel members, Punky Meadows and Mickie Jones. In early 1973, Capitol Records signed the band and rushed them into the studio to record their debut album. Within several months the album was complete, but Capitol balked on the deal and the band were dropped from the roster. It is not know just how much longer the band continued, but reports of shows in 1974 confirm that they were functional at least early in the year. By the end of the year, Meadows and Jones were signing a new contract with Angel and their debut was released the following year. By 1976, Angel was in full swing and enjoying national exposure. Capitol, sensing an opportunity to cash in on the band's success, issued the Bux album they had canned several years prior. Though some ardent Angel fans snapped them up eagerly, the album kept a low profile and failed to ignite widespread interest.The album is an interesting, if not pedestrian, affair blending hard rock and the standard boogie band approach with mixed results. "White Lightning", which later became a featured cut on Angel's third album, is included here with different lyrics and is only interesting for its historical value. Singer, Ralph Morman, went on to sing for Joe Perry's first solo album. The rest of the band's whereabouts are not known.
I recommend this to any Angel fans looking for a brief look into the early careers of Meadows and Jones. Others may enjoy this too, but it is frankly only an average record. Check this HQ vinyl rip and enjoy.
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4 comments:
I like it. Good hard rock music.
Miguel
Singer Ralph Mormon also went on to Savoy brown,cutting two albums with them:
"Rock and Roll Warriors" and "Greatest Hits Live"
I appreciate not overhyping expectations, but I think this album is WAY better than average. In fact, it's such a great rock record that it poses a mystery as to why they didn't continue. It sounds like Angel without the glam pop elements. Very good stuff. Thanks for posting!
A couple of reason's "Why they didn't continue?", is they came out of the Boston Bar Band sceane the sametime as Aerosmith did, (both cut their nails up in Boston's Bar Band sceane, and were friends, as evident from Ralph Mormon becoming Joe Perry Project Lead Vocalist), and sadly, BUX had a virus of a promoter, whom Queen actually wrote a song about, "Death on Two Legs". and Aerosmith had better promotion. Also BUX rumorly had troubles in the studio, and disagreements didn't help them keeping together.
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