Armageddon (Keith Relf's last album) szc

["Michael O. Shannon" <ms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I came across this CD Armageddon while browsing on
Amazon, ordered it, and I've been listening to it
the past few days and it's pretty cool.  There's
a blurb which mentions Jimmy in the liner notes,
"The album was recorded in the Autumn of 1974.  At
the same time Jimmy Page (ex-Yardbirds and now with
Led Zeppelin) was recording in the next studio and
stopped by to hear what his old friend Keith was up
to."  I thought that was cool that Jimmy dropped in
to say hi to his old Yardbirds friend.  Anyway it's
a pretty cool hard rock/progressive type of album and
it is available on Amazon for those who may be
interested.  It was originally released in 1975.  
There's 13 reviews on Amazon and I borrowed one and
included it below:

Heavy classic from the 70's, November 17, 2002
Reviewer: bruceski "bruceski" (St. Petersburg, FL United States) - 

Armageddon was the last decisive battle for ex-Yardbird Keith Relf. 
The former lead singer and harmonica player of the band that launched 
Clapton, Beck and Page, Relf had abandonned his blues-guitar band 
roots when he founded Renaissance in the late 1960's. Relf left 
Renaissance after two albums (actually half way threw the second 
album) due to frustrations with the music business and being tired of 
touring. However, when he created Armageddon, he was involved with 
one of the best guitar rock albums of the 70's.
After the disolution of Steamhammer, Relf, and ex-Steamhammer 
members, Martin Pugh (guitar) and Louis Cennamo (bass) came to L.A. 
and hooked up with ex-Captain Beyond and Johnny Winter drummer Bobby 
Caldwell to form Armageddon. Armageddon combined the complex drum 
patterns of Caldwell, with Pugh's heavy and stylistic riffing and 
Relf's insightful and searching lyrics to create a haunting and 
enduring piece of heavy rock.

The opening song "Buzzard" is usually listed by fans as the highlight 
of the album. Borrowing a riff from Steamhammer's "Penumbra," Pugh's 
guitar soars with speed, control and precision, while Relf's 
intelligent lyrics rap around the crashing, thunderous drums of 
Caldwell. It is an exhilarating eight minute flight worth taking over 
and over again.

While "Buzzard" is one of the album's highlights, it is by no means 
the sole reason to own this disc. Other particularly strong moments 
include: the beautiful and stylish "Silver Tightrope," which features 
an echoing guitar and more contemplative lyrics from Relf, and "Last 
Stand Before" a Zeppelinesque (Physical Graffiti era) rocker with 
descriptive and prophetic lyrics. In this one Relf sings "Lost a 
friend, met his end, way before his time" and "my brother's falling 
catch him if I can. I see him falling you can join him in his last 
stand," it makes one wonder if Keith was aware of his own fate.

It's too bad that this proved to be the last stand for Relf and 
Armageddon. Relf returned to England due to poor health shortly after 
this was released. Relf's health and reported drug use among some of 
the band lead to Armageddon failing to release any more material. 
Relf died shortly after returning to England, when he was 
electrocuted while playing guitar. He did record one more song "All 
the Falling Angels" that is included on an album by Illusion called 
Echanted Caress. (Illusion was the name the original members of 
Renaissance chose when they reunited. This was because Anne Haslem 
and her crew had become Renaissance).

Armageddon remains a powerful reminder of what artists where able to 
due when they were given the creative control to explore. Oddly 
enough, this album may never have gotten made if it wasn't for the 
succes of Peter Framptom's Comes Alive. According to the cd booklet, 
Framptom reccomended Armageddon to A&M Records, and because he was 
their top selling artist at the time, they listened to him. I'm very 
glad they did. Armageddon remains a classic heavy rock album that is 
still worth hearing.



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