"Patto" Album Reviews

     
New Musical Express, January 9, 1971

PATTO (Vertigo, 6360016, 42s 6d).  Mike Patto looks after the rather tuneless, forlorn and yet appealing vocals, backed by the intense guitar playing of Olly Halsall, who also contributes vibes and piano, while John Halsey and Clive Griffiths stick to drums and bass respectively.  A modest outing, on eight group-written tracks.  Muff Winwood produces. 


New Haven Rock Press, Spring 1971 by Jon Tiven

PATTO (Vertigo VEL-1001)

This is one of my favorite new bands, with one hell of an album. No familiar names here, but Mike Patto’s vocals are just great and powerful, John Halsey is certainly one of the top 5 drummers in the world, Olly Halsall is among the most interesting guitarists around (not to mention damn good on vibes), and the bass playing of Clive Griffiths is excellent.

And the most amazing thing…they work together flawlessly, as the foremost jazzrock (in a real, non-superfluous sense of the term) band. They are a band, not just a bunch of good musicians. And they write diverse and intriguing songs. Too bad the songs on side one aren’t better (side two is tremendous), it weakens the lp a lot. (*** ˝)


    

 

[Return to Top of Page]