Week of September 28, 2003

Ro Ro

Personnel:
Rod Coombes - Vocals, Drums
Brian Rogers – Orchestration
Alan Ross - Vocals, Guitar, Recorder
Neil Sheppard - Vocals, Keyboards
Rose Warwick – Bass
John Weider - Guitar, Violin

Album:
Meet At The Water (Regal Zonophone SRZA 8510) 1972 

45s:
Here I Go Again/What You Gonna Do (Parlophone R 5920) 1971 
Goin' Round My Head/Down On The Road (Regal Zonophone RZ 3056) 1972 
Blackbird/Feel It Coming (Regal Zonophone RZ 3076) 1973 

Competent, slightly melancholy-tinged country-rock in the vein of Bronco, Cochise, Moonrider, Quicksand and Quiver, to name but a few, although at times comparisons to Lindisfarne also wouldn’t be out of place – especially on the singalong title track, which closes vinyl side A! The vocalist possessed the kind of soulful, low-register throaty voice that marked the works of period Dutch popsters The Shoes (Van Es) and The Tee Set (Peter Tetteroo).

Melancholic, minor-key acoustic guitar instrumentals such as “Mandala” add a bit of variety to an otherwise pretty straight-laced period country-rock piece.

Vocalist/guitarist Alan Ross and bassist Warwick Rose formed the core of the band – hence the name Ro-Ro. Alan later formed his own band Ross which recorded two excellent mellow funk-rock albums for RSO that were not unlike the works of Tommy Bolin in the mid-70s.

John Weider had, of course, played with Eric Burdon and the Animals, Family, Stud and Moonrider.

The LP is now extremely hard to find and fetches high numbers on the collectors market, as indeed do most Regal Zonophone releases! A CD “reissue” exists, but only as a bootleg with bad quality of sound, RVCD010. Time for a proper reissue!

Alex Gitlin
September 2003

Discography taken from The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson
ISBN 1 899855 04 1


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