FUSE - Fuse

Tracks 1-8: previously released in 1970 as Epic LP BN 26502
Tracks 9-10: previously released in 1969 as Epic 45 5-10514

Recorded at Columbia Studios, Chicago from Oct 4-Nov 4, 1968
All songs published by Ohms Music (BMI), except:
Track 9 published by Elvis Presley Music/Lion Publishing Co. (BMI)
Track 10 published by Hilaria Music (ASCAP)

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There's something to be said for FUSE. They are new, very young and very promising, and they can play heavy, hard, very confident music. Chip and Joe are both 17, Craig is 18, Tom 19, and Rick 21. In a time where most of the finest rock and roll is said to be made exclusively by "supergroups", FUSE emerges fresh on the scene with their first, newborn album.

The sound is heavily influenced by the English hard-rock sound, probably due to the fact that Rick was first "messed up" (to use his own words) with soul music after a sub with the now defunct Yardbirds (which has also been one of Tom's favorite groups) a couple of years ago. Joe also admits to being heavily influenced by R&B via Ray Charles and Otis Redding and his searing soulful vocals pay loving tribute to his well-chosen idols. Chip aspires to playing in a big band, having been greatly influenced by Buddy Rich, and it's Chip's drumming that spurs and supports the relentless rhythmic drive of FUSE's hard cooking locomotion. It's Craig's lead guitar figures, flashy, melodic and solidly musical, that rise to the top and sweeten the well-paced pulsating turbulence that FUSE collectively represent.

FUSE is move music. They'll make your blood rush, and your head swarm and your body dance. One cannot help but admire how musically tight and energetically organized this album is, nor their remarkable control in exerting such high voltage rock and roll in such a tasty array of instrumental extravagance and vocal savagery. This is an exciting first album, full of solid, precisely executed hard rock, dizzying centrifugal energy that grips your gut and shakes it loose. FUSE is new, young and very promising -- and the fun really starts when they charge and deliver.
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