Ironbridge were a UK band that formed from the ashes of both The Birds and the Bees and Fluff, two pop acts that made some records and toured in the late '60s before giving birth to Ironbridge, who released this one studio album back in 1973. Influenced by The Beatles, The Moody Blues, The Who, The Byrds, and Crosby Stills & Nash, Ironbridge put together a nice little album here of power pop with a touch of folk and prog, now reissued by the folks at Angel Air.
Though you would be hard pressed to call the music of Ironbridge unique, there are still some pleasant, enjoyable songs to be found here on this self-titled debut, despite the obvious comparisons to other acts of the era. "Frost and Fire" contains some Townsend/Entwistle guitar & bass passages to go along with some soaring Byrds/CS&N vocal harmonies. On "Show" the band pulls out the mighty Mellotron for an emotional piece that's not unlike some of the classic Moody Blues material. Other pop/folk numbers like "Simple Man", "Glen", and "Just a Day" offer rich melodies and crisp, breezy instrumentation that reminds of the Fab Four, while the band rocks a bit harder on tracks such as "Back Room", "Making It Harder", and "I Can Fly" with some bluesy, boogie guitar riffs and tight grooves. "Shanty" even goes full on folk, complete with some pastoral acoustic guitar & flute to go along with dreamy vocals, Mellotron, and piano.
Ironbridge is a rather fine album, though not nearly original enough which is probably why the band didn't take off as expected back when it was originally released. As a nice example of pop, folk, prog, and hard rock, this was well done and worth a listen of you didn't catch it the first time around. Once again, another nice job from Angel Air rescuing a lost gem from the vaults. Full story of the band and photos are included in the booklet as well.
Track Listing
1) Just a Day
2) Back Room
3) Hallelujah Days
4) Getting Older
5) Making It Hard
6) Show
7) It's All RIght
8) Frost and Fire
9) Simple Man
10) Glen
11) I Can Fly
12) Shanty
13) Just a Day (strings version)
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