Tiger - Tiger (Japan Remastered) (1976/2007)

The team was created by man, which is taught to play the guitar Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Howe, was known as one of the most sought-after session musicians in England and has played more than one thousand singles hit the charts. So when Jimmy Page was known under the name "Little Jim,” that the man known as “Big Jim”. That man was Big Jim Sullivan (Big Jim Sullivan). Born February 14, 1941 in the town of Uxbridge, Middlesex County (United Kingdom). In 1959 he met with Marty Wilde (Marty Wilde) and he invited Jim to play in support of «Wildcats» Group in the cult cafe-bar «2i’s Coffee Bar». Before 1970, Sullivan was a session guitarist and has participated in many recordings. As I mentioned earlier with his participation was recorded over 1000 hit singles! In 1969, he joined Tom Jones, with whom toured for the next five years, and once speaking in Las Vegas Jim met with Elvis Presley.
In late 1974 Sullivan retired from Jones to with producer Derek Lawrence (Derek Lawrence - to his credit was Producing such bands as Deep Purple and Whishbone Ash) to create the label Retreat Records. Over the next two years, they have engaged in producing activities, working with Labi Siffre, Chas & Dave and McGuinness Flint.
In 1975, Sullivan, along with vocalist Nick Moore created Tiger. Having released two excellent hard rock album, the team disbanded in 1977………….

I have to admit both of Tigers albums are the kind of album that you have to sit down for to let them grow on you. These aren’t simple albums with instant appeal, as the sound and the style are very distinctive. You first have to get used to them to experience their full impact. And they are certainly not something for everyone. Tiger is an acquired taste, but if you have ever listened to bands like ‘Argus’-era Wishbone Ash, early Ambrosia, early Barclay James Harvest and 'Something Magic’-era Procol Harum, appreciating them will be lot easier than for your average Classic Rock fan. However, people who know their Progressive Rock, will nevertheless notice that Tiger bears little or no resemblance with any of these aformentioned bands. I’ll come back to that later.

For the most part Tiger plays a kind of slow and soft Progressive Rock, with lots of melody and with subtle injections of Jazz and Funk. There are a few “bursts” of up tempo Jazz Fusion (for example in the very beautiful 'Waiting for the snow’), some more powerful Rock passages and there are also some compositions that were built on a foundation of classic Funk Rock (example 'Gamblin’ Gambler’). But for the most part it’s a rather laid back affair with lots of dreamy and melancholic passages. It’s all very well performed, it’s smart and artful, dramatic at times but never pompous or overdone.

The average Tiger composition is a lengthy one, clocking in at seven minutes on average, and certainly taking its time to build up. In this aspect, but also a bit in style and feel, they resemble 'Argus’-era Wishbone Ash. I’m mentioning Wishbone Ash, even though the resemblance is vague, essentially because I don’t know of any other band that sounds even remotely like Tiger. And I have heard thousands of them.

Tiger has two (yes, two) very good vocalists that cooperate well together. The first one is a melodic singer with a clear voice. The other one has a bluesier feel. It’s this second singer who’s of note, as it’s a man called Nicky Moore, who would later go on to become the singer of the NWOBHM-bands Samson and Mammoth (among others). ……by Johan Wuyckens………