The roots of Brave Belt go back to the mid-1960's when Randy Bachman was a founding member, along with Chad Allen, of the band Chad Allen & The Expressions. That band would achieve fame and eventually regroup and be renamed the Guess Who. Bachman stayed with the Guess Who for a decade then decided to leave the band because of internal strife and direction the band was taking.
Randy Bachman Interview
In 1970 he released a solo album called 'Axe' for RCA . The album did not fare too well with the public so Bachman teamed up again with his old friend Chad Allen and they decided to put together a new band hoping to recapture some of the magic that made the Guess Who so successful. Allen would handle vocals, keyboard and rhythm guitar while Bachman's younger brother, Robin, was recruited for drums and Randy would handle the guitar work. The trio became Brave Belt and were signed to the Reprise label.
In 1971 they headed into the studio with a number of session musicians to record their debut album ' Brave Belt' . The album was a departure from the sound of Guess Who and had a country feel to it complete with steel guitar and fiddles ! Of the 12 songs on the album, seven were written and co-written by Allen while the remaining five were penned by Bachman. Fred Turner joined the band on bass just as the album was completed but does not appear on the debut.
Despite the lack of success of the debut, ' Brave Belt II' was recorded in 1972 this time with the addition of C.F Turner (as he became known).
Brave Belt II was noticeably different from the debut and the band was starting
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to show its heavier side due mainly from the influence of C.F. Turner's songwriting and gritty vocals. The new guitar fronted sound of Brave Belt conflicted with Chad Allen's vision of the band so he quit before the album was released. For the next recording session, Allen was replaced by another Bachman, Tim on guitar and the overall sound of the band moved to an even heavier direction with guitar riffs, and a pounding drum back beat.
A third Brave Belt album with the new line-up was planned but a label change to Mercury and the new heavier direction the band, prompted a name change at the request of the new label manager, and ' Bachman Turner Overdrive' or B.T.O. for short was born. The rest is history.
Now for the first time on CD format Bullseye Records of Canada and Ranbach Music Ltd have released the entire Brave Belt catalogue on a two CD set. This impressive set not only features both Reprise Brave Belt albums, it also contains two bonus tracks as well as an in-depth essay on the “Brave Belt” years written by Randy Bachman, archival photographs and reproductions of the original album graphics.
Although both of the Brave Belt albums were commercially unsuccessful upon initial release, their reissue nearly 30 years later fills a hole for collectors in the Guess Who history and provides new fans with a long lost and welcome piece of Canadian music history. Now that the Brave Belt chapter has been added, there may be hope for the re-release of Randy Bachman’s solo albums and post B.T.O. projects, Union and Iron Horse.
By Keith Pettipas, CanEHdian.com
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