RO RO - Meet At The Water [UK 1972]

"The short-lived Ro Ro featured the talents of drummer Rod Coombes, bassist Warwick Rose, singer/guitarist Alan Ross (apprently still in his teens), keyboardist Neil Sheppard, and former Animals guitarist John Weider. Rose and Ross were the band's front men (which I'm guessing had something to do with the unique name).

The band made their recording debut with a 1971 single for the Parlophone label:

- 1971's 'Here I Go Again' b/w 'What You Gonna Do' (Parlophone catalog number R 5920)

From there they were signed by Regal Zonophone which released a sophomore 45:

- 1972's 'Goin' Round My Head' b/w 'Down On The Road' (Regal Zonophone catalog number RZ 3056)

While the single didn't do a great deal commercially, Regal Zonophone decided to finance an album. Produced by John Adcock, 1972's "Meet at the Water" is a grower. The first couple of times I played it I remember thinking it was largely split between forgettable sensitive singer-songwriter numbers and equally uninteresting country-tinged numbers. I should have paid more attention since given a chance the album's far better than that. As lead vocalist Ross wasn't gifted with the greatest voice you've ever heard, but he sure managed to make the most of his talents occasionally reminding me a bit of a young, slightly flatter Stevie Winwood (''), or a Paul Rodgers wannabe. It the band wanted to carve out a strong image, the album was a complete failure. Country-tinged numbers like 'Down On the Road' were definitely an acquired taste (which I didn't have). Far better were the Free-styled blues-rocker like 'Beautiful Lady', 'Wild, Wild Woman' and 'Whole Fire Burning'. No, you weren't going to forget about Paul Rodgers and company, but if you were going to pick a musical influence, you could have done far worse". Bad Cat Records

Ro Ro