Wizard - Wizard (1979)

Wizard were a Los Angeles based hard rock act which featured brothers Dave Walsh (guitar) and Brian Walsh (drums), as well as Bruffie Brigham (vocals, bass). It's not known when the band was established but their one and only album was self-financed & pressed under the guise of their own label, Future Track Records. The album circulated in nearby shops for awhile before disappearing completely. As the new decade approached, the band fizzled and Brigham moved on to Masque and later worked as a session player. The Walsh brothers activities are unknown.

This album has been fetching ridiculous prices at collector fairs and online auctions for a number of years now and I can't help but wonder why. Sure, the musicianship is decent enough and the songwriting isn't completely terrible by any means but methinks this is a clear case of hype over substance. The production here is half the problem, as the dynamics have all but been tossed out the window. What's left is a leaden and somewhat claustrophobic sounding mix that does no justice to the music at all. There have been many Rush comparisons made about Wizard and I just don't hear it at all. Am I missing something here? Overall, this LP is on the low end of "good", barely scraping by on the fact that there's exceptional musicianship happening here. Otherwise, unless you're a sucker for plodding lo-fi early 80's hard rock, you might want to bypass Wizard.

Unfortunately, this rip leaves alot to be desired. It's fuzzy and part of the opening track has been truncated, but I have seen no alternate rips floating around and until then, this will have to do. Thanks to my friend Orchman, here is Wizard. What do you think?

320kbps @ http://lix.in/-4eacf4