Cargo self-titled album

Cargo self-titled album from 1972.

Cargo was a short-lived Dutch hard rock and progressive rock band from the early '70s, which released a single album in 1972. 

The band was formed under the name September and released a few singles, then changed their name to Cargo and self-produced their only album, which was released in a run of just 1,500 copies and, due to poor commercial success and limited distribution outside the Netherlands, the group disbanded shortly after its release. 

First of all, this album should be counted among the Masterpieces of Heavy Prog. It was rediscovered long after its release by progressive rock enthusiasts and is now considered a cult classic with its fusion of hard rock, progressive rock, and psychedelic passages.

The four members of the band were: Ad de Hont on guitars with his brother Jan de Hont, Willem de Vries on bass and vocals, and Denis Whitbread on drums. 

The album contains only four long tracks with great solos and guitar lines played by the Hont brothers, and in my opinion, it is one of the best double guitar albums ever recorded. It was for a long time a very rare collector's item, but it has been reissued several times and recently in a Sun King edition in 2024.
 

It is in every respect a gem, with its psychedelic progressive rock, great melodic guitar work, and long instrumental sections with the two lead guitars of Jan and Ad de Hont, supported by an excellent rhythm section with bassist and singer Willem de Vries and drummer Dennis Whitbread. The production is also excellent for the era.

- Sail Inside opens the album with its approximately 11 minutes and is characterized by harmonized solos, clean and effected guitar passages, and a classic rock-inspired vocal by bassist Willem de Vries. A blues-psych-prog track that well represents the band's overall sound. An energetic track with a beautiful rock atmosphere and great synergy between the guitars, one playing an intense harmonic riff and the other electric moving with solos and continuous licks. The rhythm section is effective in its simplicity. The atmosphere is Zeppelin-like and the track contains a long, compelling and exciting instrumental section, with a lighter guitar ending and a beautiful deep bass always in the spotlight. Great track with a first part sung with a hard rock voice and backing vocals and then a long two-guitar instrumental section with a very incisive bass.

- Cross Talking is a track characterized by a funky groove with complex guitar work between brothers Ad and Jan de Hont. Completely instrumental, it has an excellent bass and drum part and long guitar solos. The deep bass and drum groove is beautiful, and the guitar with its funky mood and timing still sounds modern today, thrilling with the two guitars playing in different styles, one mainly a wah wah guitar and the other performing a long solo over a captivating rhythm. The ending is amazing with an overall exciting, hypnotic and powerful groove with both guitars exceptional, exploring various guitar techniques on the border between psychedelia and hard rock and with sounds reminiscent at times of space rock, a track that throughout its duration gives a feeling of strength and drive. Spectacular.

- Finding Out is a sung track characterized by a syncopated riff, focused on the vocals but including beautiful instrumental sections. It is the shortest track on the album and starts with a dialogue between the instruments and the voice with a very complex tempo. The vocal performance is beautiful. The track immediately starts off pressing with nice bass and vocal breaks and with a fast, powerful rock rhythm with the guitars again at the center and a perfect rhythm section with great bass and super fast drums, bordering on hard rock, continuously pounding and driving with a long instrumental section between short sung sections. Very long guitar solo, intense and full of variations and scales performed in different keys. A splendid rock ride. Spectacular up to the finale when the voice returns to announce the end of the track. Magnificent.

- Summerfair is an epic track of about 15 minutes, starting with Hendrix-style guitar and moving to a typically '70s rock sound. Overall, we find heavy blues rock, hard funk rock, softer vocal and melodic sections with perfect management of the variations between these styles. It contains a great guitar solo that explores multiple guitar techniques. The best track on the album and therefore of the band. A long track with a beginning of beautiful repeated breaks, then moving to a soft sound and a blues tempo with beautiful singing in fine style and interpretation. Magnificent melody and atmosphere interrupted by a brief reprise of the breaks and then returning to the melodic phase. The voice is really beautiful and the alternation of moods repeats several times until a prolonged, fast and thrilling section starts with a great bass and drum groove and a very fast guitar solo. The sound is raw and pure rock. The work of the rhythm section is relentless and the second guitar follows the first guitar's solo with funky strumming, fast and almost hypnotic with its continuous pace. A masterpiece track that takes no breaks, a race until breath is exhausted and then returns to the bluesy atmospheric phase and the beautiful singing, then followed in this mood by a great psychedelic guitar solo with the bass outlining tempo and melody, staying on this melody for a long time and the vocalizations, the light background screams are beautiful in Plant style but less forced and more melodic, less aggressive. Then the tempo gradually rises and the drum groove returns while the bass becomes less melodic, the track overall increases in speed and so do the guitars. A track where, in addition to the always prominent guitars, the bass takes center stage. Great slow, very engaging psychedelic ending. Masterpiece track.

There are no weak tracks, this was a band of great musicians who, as often happens, did not have the success they deserved. Great album, absolutely recommended, and it's incredible that this record and this band did not achieve success or a following. 

This album is in its own right a METEORA of Progressive Rock, visit the section METEORE PROG for more information

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the title of the article or on the "Artists" page

Tracklist

1. Sail Inside (10:54)
2. Cross Talking (8:33)
3. Finding Out (5:14)
4. Summerfair (15:35)

Duration 40:16

LineUp

- Willem De Vries - vocals and bass

- Jan De Hont - guitar
- Ad De Hont - guitar
- Dennis Whitbraad - drums