Legs Diamond - A Diamond Is A Hard Rock (Reissue) (1978/2007)

Legs Diamond's second album, and second of 1977, A Diamond Is a Hard Rock, polished many rough edges off of their eponymous debut's inconsistent songwriting, but it did nothing to assuage the band's raging bout of musical split-personality disorder; a virtually unparalleled case in the annals of rock history that saw half their songs confined to frugal hard rock, while the other half drove over the cliff of scholarly, progressive rock indulgence. Yes, future generations are still trying to figure this out, and the album's first half, in particular, is the virtual definition of schizophrenia. First comes the title track's fist-pumping attack (topped with lyrics that break some kind of record for stating the obvious); then it's the dragging-nearly-stalling pace but cool strut of the organ-laced "Waiting"; followed by one of the Legs Diamond's catchiest, most powerful numbers ever in "Long Shot" (synthetic Farfisa solo and all); and finally there's the protracted first half of "Woman," which ultimately develops into the band's own "Stairway to Heaven" (so to speak) and became a regional hit in several markets. In other words, all of the preceding tunes are really quite good-to-great, and it's just the emotional yo-yo of their sequencing that makes it impossible for them to establish a serious momentum. Side two flows a little easier, and boasts additional career highlights, ranging from the irrepressible tandem of "I Think I Got It" and "High School Queen," to the sensual, sauntering "Evil," which even gets away with the odd flute while borrowing heavily from Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull. Needless to say, it was anything but a smooth ride from start to finish, but the high standards displayed by most of these songs helped A Diamond Is a Hard Rock stand out as perhaps the best album of Legs Diamond's career, pound for pound.