Brother of glam leather babe Suzi Quatro, Michael Quatro took a different path from his famous sister, instead exploring progressive rock.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Michael Quatro
ALBUM: Dancers, Romancers, Dreamers And Schemers
LABEL: United Artists
SERIAL: UA-LA587-G
YEAR: 1976
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Michael Quatro – vocals, keyboards, special effects, percussion * David Surkamp – narration vocal * Tim Bogart, Lynn Kishkon – vocals * David Kiswiney – bass, vocals * Bobby Womack, Ray Parker Jr, Teddy Hale – guitars * Kirk Arthur – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Children Of Tomorrow * 02 Stripper * 03 One By One * 04 Rollerbach * 05 Circus * 06 Ancient Ones * 07 Pure Chopin * 08 Adagio * 09 Touch Of Class
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Brother of glam leather babe Suzi Quatro, Michael Quatro took a different path from his famous sister, exploring progressive rock instead, and in turn becoming the American answer to Rick Wakeman.
Ok to be fair, Michael Quatro was never as over the top as Wakeman and his stage shows not as extravagant. No ice skating circus clowns and other over the top weirdness, but he did tour extensively with KISS, Aerosmith, Queen, Hawkwind and Jethro Tull as well as being a proven headliner.
Although his record sales never reflected his high profile status among his peers, for the most part all his work is worth a listen. This record with an incredibly long title was the follow-up to his critically acclaimed ‘In Collaboration With The Gods’ and it’s a winner for fans of classical rock.
The Songs
‘Children Of Tomorrow’ opens the album on a quiet note reminiscent of Barclay James Harvest and even early pre-‘Trespass’ Genesis with Quatro’s trademark classical piano in the lead role.
The following track ‘Stripper’ pre-dates Queen‘s experiments in funk and actually works very well. The ballad ‘One By One’ a few of you would probably consider a drippy love song, but in reality is very similar to some of Gino Vannelli‘s early balladry.
‘Rollerbach’, ‘Pure Chopin’, and ‘Adagio’ are heavily classical inspired pieces as you would expect, with the icing on the cake being ‘Ancient Ones’ with narration from none other than Geddy Lee-in-disguise vocalist David Surkamp of Pavlov’s Dog.
In Summary
Following ‘Dancers..’ Michael Quatro recorded the inferior ‘Gettin’ Ready’ which is best forgotten in light of his previous work. I suppose record company meddling got the best of him, a tale as old as the industry itself. From what I gather a few of his early albums were reissued by the man himself in digital form, but these seem to be out of print now.
How unfortunate since Michael Quatro’s work is often over looked in light of other major label American progressive outfits i.e. Starcastle, Fireballet, Ethos and Happy The Man and should be heard by anyone with even a passing interest in this long forgotten scene.
Michael Quatro on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
