Winterhawk [Chicago]: Revival (1982)
Winterhawkās only studio album, the self-financed-and-releasedĀ Revival, may have emerged in 1982, but its contents -- power trio hard rock spiced with prog, blues, jazz, and even southern rock accents -- leave no doubt as to the bandās origins in the previous decade.
In fact, Winterhawk was formed circa 1977 by guitar wiz Jordan Macarus, withĀ vocalist/bassist Doug Brown and drummer Steve Tsoukatos, and they eventually opened shows for the likes of Budgie, Steppenwolf, and Black Oak ArkansasĀ in prestigious Chicagoland venues like the 5,000-seat Aragon Ballroom.
Alas, Winterhawk would never graduate to headliner status, in their own right, but stellar songs likeĀ āPeriod of Change,āĀ āSanctuaryā and "Revivalā bear witness to an absolutely killer and creative combo -- despite a healthy debt to Rush, in part due to Brownās acrobatic high notes.
But the star of the band was unquestionably Macarus, wether he was harmonizing, Thin Lizzy-like, with himself, alternating gently picked classical guitar figures with crunchy power chords Ć laĀ Randy Rhoads, or peeling off jazzy, fleet-fingered displays like Steve Morse (see āAce in the Holeā).
A little less distinctive was the bandās boogie through āCan't See the Forest for the Trees,ā but the albumās closing, nine-minute jam āFree to Liveā convincingly covered every (good) aspect of ā70s rock (including some similarities to Kansas), and even dipped into the ā60s for its hippie dippy lyrics.
Winterhawk were, in other words, a band waaay out of their time, so itās only fitting that RevivalĀ (beautifully reissued on LP, as you can see here) had to wait a couple of decades to be, well, revived byĀ the dedicated musical archaeologists at Rockadrome Records, via the world wide web.
To learn more, check out my review of Revival and expanded Winterhawk bio in the All-Music Guide.
p.s. -- Donāt confuse this Winterhawk with the San Francisco-based Winterhawk, which released a couple of LPs in 1979 andĀ ā80, and blended hard rock and southern rock behind their Native American themes.Ā
Other Hard Rock Obscurities: Truth and Janeyās No Rest for the Wicked, Diamond Reoās Dirty Diamonds, Granmaxās A Ninth Alive, Granicusā Granicus,Ā Buxās We Come to Play; plus the OTHER Winterhawk.