RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Think: We'll Give You a Buzz (CD/vinyl)

One of the many rewards of following the releases on Grant Gillanders' Frenzy reissue label is just how good so many of the bands were at the time but went largely unheard.

Sometimes he unearths a band and pulls together an album out of their recordings. Or in the case of the thrilling Grim Ltd he discovers a live tape of their final gig and releases the raw r'n'b garageband rock to universal acclaim.

Or he pulls together a collection on New Zealand soul, psychedelic music and of course mainstream pop. He reissued important albums by Ragnarok, Golden Harvest and Odyssey.

Without him we'd probably never have had the compilations of Hi Revving Tongues, the Cleves, the Music Convention or Corben Simpson.

This 1976 album by prog-rockers Think originally came out on the major label WEA but it's a safe bet there aren't too many origonal copies floating around.

The original band lasted barely three years from conception to faltering to a halt through line-up changes (including founder-guitarist Kevin Stanton quitting before the debut album was recorded and moving on to found the much more successful Mi-Sex).

During their short lifespan they had Ritchie Pickett on vocals for their six song album, opened for Deep Purple and the Doobie Brothers, relocated to Sydney, Pickett was edged out, moved to Melbourne where they supported Dragon and Cold Chisel among many others, members left, they limped on . . .

There was more . . . but for our purposes that's it because the album arrives as the original six song vinyl edition and as 14 track CD edition.

Produced by Julian Lee and engineered by Phil Yule in Stebbings, the Buzz album is undeniably impressive for its musicianship, these guys were serious players: keyboard player Don Mills, drummer Neville Jess, bassist Alan Badger, Pickett on vocals and keys.

It is expansive, slightly romantic prog (Look What I've Done more than eight minutes, Stringless Provider more than 10) with the pairing of Whitehead and Mills as good as any in prog-rock (emphasis on “rock”) of the period.

And they could peel off radio-friendly pop (Big Ladies)

Big Ladies

 

And the album comes is a suitably progadelic cover by Neil Vesey.

Given its lack of vinyl availability (it has been out digitally since 2014) and the high price being paid for secondhand editions of the original, the new vinyl of Buzz (classic black) is certainly a must-have.

The expanded CD edition doesn't disgrace by being padded out with demos (just three, all worth hearing) and includes an EMI studio recording of their next single (Arrived in Time) and two at Mandrill intended as the single after that (Good Morning b/w Peanut Joe)

So, no filler.

There are also three studio recordings of the Stanton, Badger, Jess trio before Think embarked on their career . . . without Stanton.

The tale of Think is complex – they named the band Think because they made music people needed to think about -- but it also stands for their convoluted story.

In the end and at some great remove from their heyday – almost half a century – all that matters is the music.

And Think make you think they really were a great local prog-rock band that somehow got away and never realized its full potential or fame.

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The Think album We'll Give You a Buzz appears on CD (with extra tracks) and vinyl at all decent record stores