Czar (1970)

This isn't one of my favorites, but it's pretty good and what little the album lacks is made up for with the amazingly bizarre album cover. Originally known as Tuesday's Children, Czar was a British band that played mildly progressive rock with blues and pop influences. They never made it far despite heavy touring with the likes of the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, the Who and King Crimson. After changing their name to Czar in 1970, they recorded this sole album and parted ways. Apparently they recorded the album late at night after playing shows, frequently writing the songs the very same day they were recorded. These recordings were then overdubbed with Mellotron keyboard, which is a fixture throughout the album. Despite some blandness and cheesiness (check out "Today"), Czar has some great songs with interesting musical passages and adept instrumentation. The lead guitar is especially impressive, sounding strangely similar to Brian May of Queen on the Pink Floyd-esque "Dawning Of A New Day." The two last tracks are bonus tracks that are quite different from the album. "Oh Lord I'm Getting Heavy" is heavily gospel influenced while "Why Don't We Be A Rock'n Roll Band" is an all-out rock cliché.

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