Thursday, April 14, 2016

Orphann Dan't Say No Omi Records 1980

Orphann Dan't Say No Omi Records 1980 CAT# OMI M 00032

Orphann was a Kansas City area hard rock group in the late-70's into the early 80's. Their first LP, Up For Adoption, is a bit more desirable, as it's bit heavier and possibly a bit more obscure than this.

Don't Say No is a potpourri of late-70's rock posturing. Easy categorization for the band is AOR. They're heavy on big guitars and solos, so big on the pomp rock. They do try to get creative from time to time, keyboards show up here and they try to sound a little less good time rock n' roll and more robotic, so there is also a slight prog influence, especially evident on the last two tracks of the LP, "Late Night Neighbors" and "In A Dream". Looking at this LP, it's looks like it should be an attempt at capturing the Tom Scholz's Boston sound and be an awful in the process. (Up For Adoption just looks like it should be amazing prog, tho). To an extent, Orphann was trying to capture some of that big time arena rock feel, but it doesn't turn out bad. Outside of dopey lyrical content, it's a pretty solid LP in terms of early 80's hard rock.

What is confusing is that the band recorded and played in KC. Yet, for this release, Omi is located in Los Angeles. The first LP shows Omi Records as a Kansas City based operation. Assuming then that this was Orphann's private label they must have packed up for California at some point after going as far as they could in KC.

Don't Say No

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