Mahogany Rush IV (JPN) CD

Mahogany Rush relocated to America in 1976, and singed to Columbia Records after critics savaged frontman/guitarist and songwriter Frank Marino for his unabashed Jimi Hendrix worship (and some would say cannibalism) on the group's first trio of albums. Mahogany Rush IV doesn't do anything to dissuade the critics, as Marino aped bits of "Crosstown Traffic" on the album's opening cut "I'm Going Away." Perhaps he thought that drenching everything in cheesy Mellotron might distract the rock press bloodhounds. But one has to be fair and say that he also ripped off Cream's "Feel Free" on this one, as well as Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" on "Man at the Back Door," but at least he was trying to be funky. Another funky motif was employed on "The Answer" which comes right out of "Dolly Dagger" from Hendrix's posthumous Cry of Love. "Jive Baby" is too embarrassing for words. "It's Begun to Rain" is a halfway decent tune, and would have been wonderful if it weren't a cross between "Waterfall" and "(Have You Ever Been To ) Electric Ladyland," with some white boy trying to sing Motown. Given the year, it's no wonder the kids in New York and in London were trying to tear rock & roll apart and start over. There isn't even an idea here that's halfway disguised as original. Pathetic. ~ Thom Jurek

1992 Japanese reissue on Sony of their 1976 album forColumbia. Nine tracks, including 'I'm Going Away', 'Man AtThe Back Door' and 'The Answer'.