FRANK MARINO – The Power Of Rock And Roll [Rock Candy remastered]

As requested, here’s the Rock Candy Records ‘Remastered & Reloaded‘ reissue of 4 of the most celebrated FRANK MARINO And Mahogany Rush albums. “The Power Of Rock And Roll” is the first Frank Marino album solely under his name, and as its title suggests, rocks with true power.

Frank Marino had been developing a solid reputation throughout the Seventies as the figurehead of his band Mahogany Rush, an impressive power trio rooted in electric heavy blues that gave Frank a platform to showcase his tremendous guitar prowess, all set within a wide screen musical landscape.

In a bold move, for this, his eighth studio album, he was encouraged to drop the Mahogany Rush handle altogether and set sail purely under his own name. It was a brave step but one that made perfect sense considering the momentum that he had already achieved.
Released in 1981 and once again self produced, “The Power Of Rock And Roll” was a triumph, seeing Frank setting fire to convention with a collection of hard hitting, no nonsense rock that sounded like a defiant call to arms.

It also signalled other major changes; splitting with long time management Leber-Krebs and cementing the appointment of his brother Vince Marino on rhythm guitar as a full time member of the group. Sharper, infinitely more focussed in a hard rock vein and taking no prisoners, all tracks are veritable fire-crackers, making good on his intent to deliver a record that, by all rights, should have catapulted him to sizeable success beyond his cult appeal.

The sheer skill and blistering guitar attack of the opening song (the title-track) is evidence of Marino’s indelible guitar playing skills. Each song in this eight track album is filled to the brim with excellent solos and innovative playing.
What’s more is that there are no repetitive licks; Marino is the epitome of an individualistic player. He also avoided falling into the trap of pandering to FM radio with two/three minute songs. Here, there are five tracks over four minutes long. The seven minute long ‘Runnin’ Wild’ is a killer tour-de-force number.

There are plenty of melodies and rhythms from the scorching hot ‘Play My Music’ to the fantastic closing ‘Ain’t Dead Yet’ (this song is worth the price of admission alone!).
Then we find the, for the time, innovative, frenetic, almost heavy metal pace of ‘Go Strange’, leaving little room for any argument that Frank was resting on his laurels.

“The Power Of Rock And Roll” is balls-to-the-floor rock ’n’ roll but with blemishes of funk and grit just to spice things up. Marino’s often frantic yet intricate style of playing must surely have influenced latter-day players such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.
I remember reading in an interview that “The Power Of Rock And Roll” tapes were lost. I don’t know the source of this Rock Candy reissue but the sound obtained is a bit brickwalled. Anyway, it’s million times better than the poor previous reissue taken from vinyl.

“The Power Of Rock And Roll” is an excellent album and remains possibly Frank Marino’s heaviest hitting album. (requested by one of you –  thanks to Robert for this one!)
Highly Recommended

01 – The Power Of Rock And Roll
02 – Play My Music
03 – Stay With Me
04 – Runnin’ Wild
05 – Crazy Miss Daisy
06 – Go Strange
07 – Young Man
08 – Ain’t Dead Yet

Guitar, Vocals – Frank Marino
Bass – Paul Harwood
Drums – Jim Ayoub
Rhythm Guitar – Vince Marino

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www.oldies.com/product-view/40188P.html