TITANIC

“Ballad of a Rock ‘n Roll Loser”

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I am half-Scandinavian. My maternal grandmother was Swedish and my maternal grandfather was Danish. To my knowledge, this has had zero effect on my tastes in pop music—I was raised on American AM radio. Still, though, I have had some curiosity about Scandinavian bands. I’m not quite sure, for example, why Sweden can boast ABBA and Roxette and their multiple global chart-toppers while Norway is best-known for the one-hit wonder a-ha. Finland has the glam heavy metal band Hanoi Rocks, while Denmark gave us Aqua. All very mysterious. One of my favorite, but little known, Scandinavian bands is Titanic, hailing from Norway and first coming to my ears though the 1975 long-player, Ballad of a Rock ’n’ Roll Loser.

Titanic formed in Oslo in the late ’60s. The original lineup included Janne Løseth on guitar, Kenny Aas on bass and organ, Jon Lorck on drums, and Kjell Asperud on additional percussion. British singer Ray Robinson was recruited to improve the band’s profile in English-speaking markets (which were, to be honest, the most coveted markets). The band was signed to CBS in 1970 and scored a big UK hit with “Sultana,” an instrumental that quite clearly aped Santana’s sound—and it remained their only significant hit. In 1973 Aas was replaced by bassist Arica Siggs and keyboardist Helge Groslie. Ballad of a Rock ’n’ Roll Loser was Titanic’s fourth and final album for CBS.

Ballad of a Rock ’n’ Roll Loser is basically blues-rock, but compared with the first three Titanic albums, more melodic and more mellow—and all the better for it. It reminds me a little of the work of the mid-’70s Pretty Things. The opener is “Riding Shotgun on My Soul,” a piano-driven ballad that just screams ’70s classic rock. The changes and harmonies are lovely and, to my ears, it’s an AOR classic that never was. “Honky Vagrant” is a faux country blues boogie. The groove is tight and funky—it’s hard for me to imagine that these cats are Norwegian! The title cut is next—it’s a minor-key guitar ballad accented with congas and harmonica. It takes a little while to heat up, but when the entire band kicks in, it’s an earnest, if self-conscious, reflection on the rock ’n’ roll life. The lyrics, as you can guess, are rather downbeat and, in my view, undermine the whole enterprise. “The Crippler” is a slide guitar blues-rocker built around a series of dirty slide and lead riffs. Again, the groove is hot. “Ricochet” is the final song on side one and takes a real left turn—a quasi-world music grinder with an overbearing and quite fatiguing cuica part. Best to turn the record over and head straight to side two. “Following Line” is a gritty folk blues that features an unusual production choice: double-tracked raspy vocals. The tune is slight, but the band is fully committed and that more or less carries the day. “Buckshee Woman,” is perhaps the hardest-edged track on the album. In my opinion, it’s a little busy and the obscurity of the title a little precious (“buckshee” means “leftover” or “free”). “Gambler Dealer” is leaner and more effective, featuring stellar backing vocals in the choruses. “Only When I Fly Alone” is one of the best tracks on the album, opening with tribal drums and building into a driving, bluesy rocker that features a great groove, catchy riffs and, again, great backing vocals. The closer is “Don’t Turn Around,” an ambitious triptych: it starts as an atmospheric dirge, shifts into a rather traditional folk song and then builds to a big synth and vocals-driven chorus, before repeating the whole thing in a slightly different order. It’s not quite the second side of Abbey Road, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The only single released from Ballad of a Rock ’n’ Roll Loser was “Buckshee Woman” b/w “Honky Vagrant” (and those are some tough titles for a radio programmer!). The single did not chart. Titanic was dropped from CBS, but went on to record two more LPs in the ’70s on smaller labels. After that, Titanic disbanded and Løsbeth went on to sing for the French electronic band Space. Løsbeth and Robinson reunited under that name Titanic for 1993’s Lower the Atlantic and 2008’s Ashes and Diamonds. Sadly, Robinson passed away in June, 2015.

Ballad of a Rock ’n’ Roll Loser was reissued by Repertoire Records in 2000 (along with two bonus tracks) and is readily available through the usual retail outlets. Used copies of the original vinyl go for about the same price as the CD, so pick your format. If you like ’70s blues rock or AOR, I highly recommend it!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation shipping February, 2016.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(band)

Biography: http://www.alexgitlin.com/npp/titanic.htm

Blog Post: http://blog.dnevnik.hr/2000mustangs/2010/04/index.html

VIDEOS:

SLIDING DOWN AGAIN:

FULL ALBUM: