Paul Roland
The Werewolf of London

Paul Roland is one of those authors I discovered in my youth (…for as much as I am still young), perhaps guided by a rare review from some music magazine (Mucchio? Rockerilla? …who remembers since 15 years must have passed …, no, I said 20 years, … no actually I was thinking it must be 25-30 years by now …) and whom I explored on my own. Therefore, I feel like I am his discoverer. I don’t know if it happens to you as well when you’re the only one in your group of friends who knows a certain author, and he’s not even much mentioned in the press (remember, we are in the Eighties where the internet was a term as well-known then as “cassette tape” is now to a teenager …), you feel a bit like he’s yours; so every critique directed at him is almost an attack on your credibility as a musicologist and every praise tickles your self-esteem as a Talent Scout. For this reason, from now on, I think I'll assume the role of discoverer of Paul Roland.

Paul Roland, as we were saying, is a character out of time who is simultaneously modern and obsolete, steampunk and science fiction, journalist and writer, singer-songwriter and investigator of the paranormal.

But let's get to us.

His debut album, "The Werewolf of London", is the last one I bought, although many of its tracks were already known to me from various compilations or live shows (including an official bootleg, "Live in Italy". I haven't checked if there are truly shared pieces between the two albums, but I am sure someone will).

It's not his masterpiece "WoL", but it's still a good debut, with a handful of excellent tracks, some above-average pieces, and some fillers.

The album was released in March 1980 when he was still a nineteen-year-old full of hopes who self-financed 1000 copies of this work.

He doesn't yet know which path to take, and the style of the pieces varies, passing through Folk, New Wave, and Psychedelia (not much, to be honest). Years later, however, Paul Roland will be cited among the forerunners of Gothic Rock thanks to this album (read Dark on the Italian peninsula … and on that note, who can explain why we translated an English term with another in English?) along with Bauhaus, thanks to the echo this LP had at the BatCave Club in London.

11 short-duration pieces overall where acoustic tracks and rock pieces with prominent keyboards alternate; the rhythm is simple, and the melodies very enjoyable.

The first track is "Blades of Battenburg", a canonical rock, a catchy chorus, minimalist rhythm, an accompaniment of very eighties guitars, and keyboards that give it an atmosphere of other times.

Following is "Brain Police"; what can I say, here we are truly in the most electronic new wave of 3 decades ago; it sounds like one of those forgotten tracks that pop up occasionally on Blob only to be forgotten again.

"The Ghoul", the third track, could be an outtake of "Duel", nothing special in my judgment; it's Paul Roland without a doubt, but there's no spark of inspiration that instead animates the following track: "Flying Ace". Here the atmospheres turn to more traditional folk: acoustic guitar in accompaniment and violins that embroider the very pleasant melody of the whole piece. Sometimes it gets stuck in your head, and you must listen to it multiple times in a row to soothe your synapses.

"The Puppet Master" enters a more mysterious atmosphere; electric guitar and organ that sometimes wander into fusion and a style of singing that's 101% Roland; the piece becomes more canonical in the chorus, but right after it returns to mystery; this alternation throughout the track makes it one of the album's peaks.

"The Cars that Ate New York" is certainly not the masterpiece of the album; we are again in New Wave territory, the keyboards dominate, and the focus is on very pop melody. It's released as the B side of the Title Track

We find ourselves more or less at the end of the first side of the record, but I have the CD, therefore I won't get up to turn it over and dust it off for you.

We start with "Public Enemy"; again, a standard pop-rock that sounds a lot like one of those tracks that serve to make an album reach the desired duration.

And here we are at "almost" the Title Track: "Werewolves of London"; almost because the track's title is plural while the album title is singular. A rather rock piece, that reveals the time it was written thanks to how the keyboards and bass are played; a sax at the end tries to give it a vague jazz feeling. It's a piece that clearly was meant for the "large" audience, with the word large to be read proportionally to the issue numbers in question (… hoping for some thousands?).

With "Dr Strange" the quality rises again. The sounds are still '80s, but the atmospheres are very 19th-century; obsessive keyboards and a very driven singing.

"Lon Chaney" follows, and we dive back into folk; intertwining of guitars, very refined violins, and bass with Paul in the background telling a story, specifically Lon Chaney's, an American Horror actor from the early last century.

Cursed stories continue with the folk of Mad Elaine; and it's in folk indeed that Roland feels more at ease, giving us another atmospheric track.

The album closes with "Sword and Sorcery"; a rock that doesn't add or subtract much from the album; see what was written for "Public Enemy".

Well yes; we've reached the end. What to say? A good debut with some standard tracks and a few little gems that alone are worth the purchase: "Flying Ace", "Puppet Masters" and "Lon Chaney" above all, and "Mad Elaine" following.

Until next time!

madcap