ODA - same (1971, US, heavyhardrock, Void vinyl rip + CD bonus, single flac + cue, DR10, artwork)

 *** Reviewed by great fellow Adamus67 ***

Oda was formed in 1970 in San Francisco, California by brothers "Randy Oda" (lead guitar, organ), "Kevin Oda" (drums) along with "Art Pantoja" (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and "Kyle Schneider" (bass guitar).

The self-titled album (now known also as "The Black Album") was originally released privately on "Loud Records" (Loud LD 80011) in 1972 with a limited edition run of 1000 copies.

The band's biggest claim to fame was to win the local Battle of the Bands contest and later Oda won a video contest for "Billboard Magazine".Oda eponymous album was an overlooked solid Hard-Rock in NO Heavy Metal guitar style.

With excellent "Randy Oda" guitar work and some great songs Oda has no weaknesses and shows a remarkable versatility on the melodic moves. With good guitar leads and memorable riffing songs "Give It Up", "Chance" and "Mable" are the great ones in the set.

Reissue on CD of rare album by USA local heavy psych to psychic-hard rock band ODA. Digitally remastered taken from the original master tape and including 4 pre-Oda bonus track...but something for something. As compared with edit vinyl contains one track A4(Cheated 3:15) omitted the CD no doubt to make room for all 4 bonus tracks. Pity, as the deleted track is better than 3 of the 4 bonuses. This hard rock album is now of minor interest to collectors,but is a very competent hard rock album with some incisive lead guitar work from Randy Oda.

Unfortunately the band broke up a couple of years after the release of this album but "Randy Oda" would go on in the late '70s with "Tom Fogerty" in the band Ruby, then to a reformed Oda in 1984.
Thank you so much Adam for that effort
gigic2255

Strong local hardrock in the stripped down, riff-happy, non-bombastic style, comparable to the Estes Bros and Glory on Rockadelic. Guitar playing from Randy O is killer throughout, lyrical and fluent yet hard and no-nonsense. Randy also plays the organ in an unusual combination, while his brother Kevin plays drums. Art Pantoja's vocals are OK in the non-operatic style common to these bands (though clearly not as good as on Dryewater and Top Drawer), and all over I have to rate this one of the better within the style. The CD bonus tracks show an impressive versatility with more melodic moves, as well as a very good take on Butterfield's "Mind to Give Up Living". Randy Oda later had a taste of mainstream success as member of Tom Fogerty's band Ruby in the late 1970s, then reformed Oda for a 1984 LP. [PL]

~~~

This is above average 70s hard rock, with good guitar leads and memorable riffing. The vocals are uninteresting, though, and there’s not much variety or originality here. A few pleasant exceptions: the surprising funk/horn interlude on “Cheated,” and the poppy melody and hot guitar solo on “Give It Up”. The best songs are in the middle of the album, so give it a chance if the first couple of songs underwhelm you. The CD adds four bonus tracks that span more styles than the original album. [AM]

(~Lysergia)

Tracks:

side one:

A1. Mable

A2. Wasn't Very Long

A3. Gabriel

A4. Give It Up

A5. Chance

side two:

B1. Thinkin' About You

B2. How Do You Feel

B3. Hard Times

B4. One More Time

B5. I Got A Mind To Give Up Living

B6. All I Want To Do

plus cd bonus

12. Cheated

ODA:

Art Pantoja - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

Randy Oda - Lead Guitar, Organ

Kevin Oda - Drums

Kyle Schneider - Bass

Oda - Cheated (1971)

 [Rip and Scans by gigic2255]

Link:   CD rip (Bonus tracks)
https://mega.nz/#!hggynbAQ!ZxhPXpiRxW1PdrGlba_nt-u39zZEchjQy-jfONwRwvU