Bloody Mary - Bloody Mary (Korean Remastered) (1974/2014)

...Musically this was decent, professional early-'70s hard rock that bore some comparison to the likes of Bull Angus, Deep Purple, Judas Priest (?), and maybe even a bit or Uriah Heep thrown in the mix. Tracks like 'Highway', 'Riddle of the Sea, and 'You Only Got Yourself' featured lots of decent guitar and keyboard interplay. That said, there wasn't a great deal of originality across these grooves and the lead singer's arch, occasionally screechy voice was best described as an acquired taste. The thing is, these guys were actually quite good; especially if you were willing to invest more than a quick spin to check the album out Yeah, he was a bit heavy handed, but the lead singer was quite talented with the rest of the band showing an unexpected knack for sweetening the mix with nice harmony vocals (check out the opening rocker 'Dragon Lady'). The rest of the band were equally good with the lead guitarist deserving special mention for consistently impressive contributions to the set. Standouts ? Hard to pick them on this one ,but I'd give the nod to the opening rocker 'Dragon Lady' and 'Riddle of the Sea'. As an aside, the album may have been released in 1974, but to my ears it certainly sounded like something recorded at least a couple of years earlier. [Review "Scott Blackerby" USA)