BUFFALO VOLCANIC ROCK MAKES QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF PUSSIES

For it's time, which was 1973, this was way ahead of its time for australian rock music. Although hamstrung by dime a dozen production, the sheer panache and raw heaviness of BUFFALO was good enough to put them in a league of their own as one of greatest stoner rock bands of all time, certainly the best ever in Australia where they were never threatened. For all my american readers who reckon QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE are the greatest stoner rock band in history, think again, BUFFALO make them look and sound like a bunch of pussies. BUFFALO were a 70`s australian band that recorded five albums in total, the second one, VOLCANIC ROCK, and the third one, ONLY WANT YOU FOR YOUR MONEY, have always been considered to be their best albums. The band's sound was a melting pot of blues based heavy metal in the vein of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, more so the former, as well straight out psychedelia, pub rock and a lesser amount of progressive rock. The five minute guitar intro to POUND OF FLESH...SHYLOCK is one of most convincing pieces of progressive heavy rock ever played by any australian musician, the guitarist being JOHN BAXTER. The original line-up had two lead singers, but by the time VOLCANIC ROCK was recorded, only DAVE TICE, the guy who sings this song, remained in the band. The most famous member of the band ironically ended up being bass guitarist PETER WELLS, who would go on to become a member of seminal australian punk rock band ROSE TATTOO in the late 70`s. After the five minute mark, the epic guitar solo ends and Tice gets down to business with one of his most definitive stoner rock rants. VOLCANIC ROCK to me is the second best BUFFALO effort, i would still rate ONLY WANT YOU FOR YOUR MONEY just a wee bit more accomplished and diverse in sound. There are a few other screamers off VOLCANIC ROCK but to me POUND OF FLESH pumps the most stoner rock horsepower.