The Chicago band Hounds are a hard rockin’ equivalent of The Rolling Stones. Mostly it’s quite raucous, the vocals and guitars are on the tough side, with piano and organ to round out the sound.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Hounds
ALBUM: Unleashed
LABEL: Columbia
SERIAL: JC 35085
YEAR: 1978
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: John Hunter – vocals, keyboards * Jim Orkis – guitars * Glen Rupp – guitars * Joe Cuttone – bass * John Horvath – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Drugland Weekend * 02 When The Boppers Turn To Rockers * 03 Bite The Dog * 04 Janine Tangerine * 05 I’ll Be Your Magic Man * 06 Bad Blood Between Us * 07 Portrait Of A Dead Man * 08 Love Me Shove Me * 09 The Alleys Of Love
WEBLINKS: NA
Hounds Background
With a name like the Hounds, you’d be thinking this lot were as rabid musically as the name would suggest. Well, that’s not entirely true.
From Chicago, these boys certainly know how to rock, but it is with a bit of panache that they do so.
Led by singer/keyboardist John Hunter, Hounds mix up their sound in two parts. Primarily we get short and snappy workouts. It’s along the lines of fellow Chicagoans The Boyzz, The Who and the Rolling Stones.
While on the other we get Meatloaf styled epic/operas. A mixed bag yes, but wind the clock back to 1978 and it’s easy to see who was flavour of the month.
The Songs
John Hunter’s slamming piano takes center stage throughout ‘Drugland Weekend’. The album opener shifting in all sorts of directions, but it’s mainly an energetic rocker of near pomp-proportions.
The lengthily titled ‘When The Boppers Turn To Rockers’ weaves an intricate story over a Meatloaf and Queen styled soundtrack. My guess is that this is not the band’s usual kettle of fish, but it sure is different.
Probably their representative sound shines through on ‘Bite The Dog’. It’s here you can hear Hunter throw a cap in the direction of Jagger and co. A bluesy rocker indeed.
Why do I get the impression that Illinois was the center of the Power Pop universe back in the 70’s? Perhaps that is a question for our intrepid Eric Abrahamsen to answer. But with a song like ‘Janine Tangerine’, the emphasis on power is all but assured. The pop bit is thrown in for good measure.
On ‘I’ll Be Your Magic Man’, Hunter lays down all his Mick Jagger mannerisms in 3 minutes flat.
Taking a step further back in time is ‘Bad Blood Between Us’. This sounds like a remnant from the late 60’s era a la The Who.
Hounds return to the current ’78 era with the swamp rock of ‘Portrait Of A Dead Man’. It’s a case of transplanted southern rock all the way to Chicago.
We don’t get a lot of variation on ‘Love Me Shove Me’, the guitar strut and tight riffs vaguely reminiscent of early AC/DC perhaps. But really it could be any number of bands from the glory days.
The album closer ‘The Alleys Of Love’ is a licorice all-sorts type of song. It touches on all the acts we’ve mentioned previously. But with piano, organ and guitars all duelling ferociously at the end. Going out with a ‘bang’ so to speak.
In Summary
It would be a safe bet to say that the Hounds are a hard rockin’ equivalent of The Rolling Stones. Mostly it’s quite raucous. The vocals and guitars are on the tough side, with piano and organ to round out the sound.
John Hunter’s dabble with Jagger is obvious, but at least the music is a bit more rockin’ than those age-old geriatrics. CBS were quite enamoured with this lot, the label sticking around for another year with 1979’s ‘Puttin’ On The Dog’. Which by the way sounds nothing like this!
Hounds on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
