Cochise - Cochise 1970

There was a lot of talent involved in the making of Cochise's debut album. Guitarist Mick Grabham went on to play in Procol Harum; bassist Rick Wills would later join Foreigner; B.J. Cole would be an in-demand pedal steel player on many sessions over the next few decades; drummer Willie Wilson would play with Pink Floyd; Dick Taylor, who'd just left the Pretty Things, produced; and Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis (famous for working on Pink Floyd LP covers) designed a striking and, for the period, daring cover of a woman's unadorned breasts. The credits on a résumé don't always guarantee an outstanding album, however, and Cochise is one of those '60s-turning-into-'70s records that treads an uneasy line between eclectic diversity and a lack of direction. It's so-so period 1970 British rock, distinguished just slightly by a more country-ish flavor than the norm, courtesy of Cole's pedal steel. It's not country-rock, however, and some of the songs in fact owe little or nothing to the form. Numbers like "Painted Lady" and "Moment and the End" are tense, meandering hard rock tunes; the latter cut, in fact (as well as sections of some others, like "Velvet Mountain") sounds kind of like late-'60s/early-'70s Guess Who LP filler. There's a wistful rural feel to parts of the material that suggests some promise, but that mood's shattered by an unnecessary, pedestrian heavy rock cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "59th Street Bridge Song." AMG.

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Cochise - Swallow Tales 1971

Prior to recording their second album, Cochise underwent a major change in personnel, with singer Stewart Brown getting replaced by John Gilbert. As Brown had written some of the material on Cochise's 1970 self-titled debut, that left the songwriting wholly in the hands of guitarist Mick Grabham and pedal steel player B.J. Cole. Still, the music remained largely the same -- middle-of-the-pack early-'70s album-oriented British rock, sometimes hard and sometimes with a more reflective, folkier feel, though always with a more country-rock-ish tinge than most (owing largely to Cole's pedal steel). But as on their first album, Cochise had neither the stylistic distinction nor the top-shelf songwriting to attract wide notice, their approach encompassing a hard rocking update of Buddy Holly's "Love's Made a Fool of You"; original material which somewhat recalled the Guess Who's rootsier side; and lightweight U.S. West Coast folk-country-rock. As far as the latter style goes, "Lost Hearts," with a light early Love influence, is their best effort, while "Another Day" sounds a little like a cross between Crosby, Stills & Nash and the early Bee Gees, as peculiar as that mixture may seem. AMG.

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