The 1980 Listening Post - Quartz - Steve Caisse

 Quartz - Steve Caisse

#304

by Steve Caisse

May 1980

Quartz

Stand Up And Fight

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Steve’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Genre: ‘70s Hard Rock wants to be NWOBHM

Highlights:

Can’t Say No To You (for the wrong reasons)

Quartz, a band I had never heard of, formed back in Birmingham, England in 1974 under the unfortunate name of Bandy Legs.  After touring with Black Sabbath, guitarist Tony Iommi produced their debut album under the new name of Quartz in 1977.  They continued to be an opening act for various big names through the rest of the ‘70s.

For “Stand Up And Fight”, their second album, you hear a band that is trying to catch onto what would be called the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal”.  And this makes sense – they are from the birthplace of that movement and it’s probably a good career move if you want to stay on the road as an opening act.  The problem is they have been at this too long and are struggling to sound “new”.  What you get is a band that is playing ‘70s hard rock – with some heavy metal rhythm section underneath.  That’s a combination that could work, but instead you get and band that isn’t playing either genre all that well so it’s twice the mess.   On quite a few tunes it was really hard to resist thinking about “Spinal Tap” – which would hit the theaters two years later. 

As for some of the songs: “Can’t Say No To You”, written to be radio friendly, is a blatant a rip-off off Boston’s “Long Time” (minus the Foreplay).   Why the perpetually litigious Tom Scholz didn’t go after them is a mystery.  They even throw in some harmony guitar for good measure.  Maybe he felt sorry for them.   “Charlie Snow” is about cocaine – so they checked that box. It has a distinct “Smoke On The Water” vibe.   “Wildfire” is about marijuana, so they checked that box, too. Most of that song is an inverted “Cat Scratch Fever” riff played ad infinitum.  

Production is standard fare for the genre but the vocals are either horribly recorded and mixed - or the singer is just naturally unintelligible.   The band only lasted a few more years; maybe he found a second career announcing stops on the Underground.  There are plenty of long heavy metal guitar solos as most songs blow by the 4-min mark, but nothing that makes you perk your ears up.   Arranging isn’t bad as the band does try to take the songs to different places. The two lead guitarists work well together.

I should mention that the album cover art is a Molly Hatchet meets Bat Out Of Hell thing depicting a dude in metal jock-strap holding a shield and mace ball whip.   Because of the music genre, I think that is supposed to award it an extra point.

So, nothing memorable here – just a band that can’t be what it was and unable to be want it needs to be.  Not exactly the recipe for a lasting musical career.   

https://open.spotify.com/album/0HqjoepUbR2OFNfLSccTGZ?si=whl2Ei_qTcK7UHAfbXByBA