Within a year of sadly crashing to a halt again after the release of the ill-fated reunion album , (who sang, played guitar, and wrote songs with the group) released his first solo album, and if 1972's isn't a masterpiece on the order of 's peerless debut album, it showed that 's share of the talent that produced that great record was still in working order. is a decidedly harder-rocking album than much of the catalog, with and loading up the songs with plenty of tough guitar work, but the melodies show the same blend of grace and power that marked his best work, and 's pipes are in strong form here, with his -based vocals sounding potent and impassioned throughout (he also gets a great assist from , who add their punchy brass accents to several tracks). are fiery rockers, is the sort of anthem needed in the wake of their debut, and are workouts that fit like a glove. turned out to be 's first and last solo album (except for an unreleased 1974 set that didn't see release until 1999), but if he fell victim to the same bad luck that haunted , he at least left behind a record that proved he had the talent to make it as a solo act if he'd been dealt a better hand. ~ Mark Deming