The fact that not all rock bands are equal is quite obvious, but even among the obscure and failed bands of the 70’s, some ended up much better off than others. Wildfire is one of these worse off bands.
Wildfire was formed in the late 60’s by Randy Love [guitar/vocals], Danny Jamison [bass/lead vocals] and Donny Martin [drums], who would spend the majority of their time at the University of Texas and their summers back home in southern California. In 1970, the band decided to record a demo album, but never got farther than that, with original copies of the album being both incredibly rare and expensive now. Thankfully, the album was re-released in 1996 and many copies are available on YouTube.
The album itself is a very raw example of early heavy metal, with very heavy distorted bass tracks, a sharp guitar tone that sets itself apart from the normal smoother guitar tones of the era and dynamic drums that solidify the groove of each song. Unfortunately, the vocals and lyrics are quite lacking, with the lyrics carrying mostly standard hippie messages similar to the lighter songs of the mid to late 60’s and the vocals sound much more inexperienced than most other similar rock bands.
The album shines the most during its faster songs when the lyrics subside and the instruments are given their time to shine. The guitar parts are a good mix of simple chord based rhythms and more technical licks, with bluesy solos that are a staple of the era as a whole. The bass lines are also a mix of simple and complex, but the way that it fills up all of the empty space left by only having one guitarist helps make each song feel less like a demo tape and more like a finished recording. However, the drums take a much more subtle role in bringing each song together and aren’t as up front as many of Wildfire’s contemporaries.
Overall, the album is great, but its nature as a demo recording as opposed to a finished recording and the seeming lack of experience due to the album being recorded in the band’s second year of existence, it really just shows us what could have been with Wildfire, but never actually happened. As it stands, the album is a 7/10, as the weak and strong parts throughout the album mostly cancel each other out and what is left is a solid project that was never truly finished.
