I've first heard about Fuse back in 1974 at the father of a friend at the same time as "Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream. I must say that FUSE really impressed me 100 times more. Since then, I have listened to tons of hard 'n heavy albums, and I must say that FUSE stays in my TOP 3 of the best albums in the genre. This forgotten US band made a little-known, but great album for Epic album in the early 1970 and is chiefly remembered for including two future members of Cheap Trick: Rick Nielson and Tom Peterson. The album is an amazing late.`60s hard rock/early metal recording inspired by early progressive movement – with plenty of heavy, but catchy guitar riffs and classical-influenced Hammond organ/ mellotron passages against the very solid rhythm section. All songs were very well developed with some nice mood variations and dynamic arrangements. Unfortunately, the album did virtually nothing, and the band did have enough material for a second album, they split up in 1970. This expanded Cd edition contains two single tracks from 1969.

I've first heard about Fuse back in 1994 when I knew this guy who owned two Mellotrons (seriously!), and he stated how this album used Mellotron, and that none other than future Cheap Trick members Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson were in this group. Well, I found an original LP for just $3 so I took a chance on it and I found it great! It's too bad it's usually regarded as little more than a Cheap Trick footnote, as it's a very good album in its own right, although you won't find much of a proto-Cheap Trick sound. What you really get here is heavy rock with soul/blues influence vocals with psychedelic and prog overtones. Lots of heavy guitar and organ, unfortunately the Mellotron was confined exclusively to "To Your Health". This was probably one of the first Mellotrons to make it on American soil, Rick Nielsen purchased one from England (at that time Mellotrons had yet to be commecially available in the States, the Chamberlin was the domestic equivalent, which predated the Mellotron, and Harry Chamberlin frowned at the thought of rock musicians using his machines, and I can go on about the Chamberlin's reliability issues, but that's another story). This album is full of intense energy and great playing, hard to believe that two of the members were just 17 at the time. The vocals do sound very American (they were American, after all), but they were also open about their love of the British scene, particularly the Yardbirds. I really can't compare the music of Fuse with other bands, but they were contemporaries of such bands as Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, and Led Zeppelin, but I guess Fuse couldn't compete with those guys (since those acts did have songs that received regular FM rock radio airplay, many still played to this day, and Fuse didn't). Nowadays the original LP is a minor collector's item. Really these guys deserved much greater attention. For those into the roots of metal (aka proto-metal) or simply late '60s/early '70s heavy rock, this comes highly recommended.