Patto
Hold Your Fire
Patto's jazz and blues inflected rock is in good form on their second album, which was released originally in 1971. The gatefold LP has an entertaining cover that reminds of an old kids game called colour forms. Each character has a different piece of another connected to it when you start playing with the three sections and changing them back and forth. The replication of the original artwork is exceptional. Mike Patto sounds very much like Rod Stewart, and the music at times is similar to what Stewart sounded like in the 70s as well. Olly Halsall was a sought after session man, and his playing tells the story why. He was an outstanding guitarist amongst other things on this recording. His playing was fluid and thoughtful as well as technically advanced for the day. He intelligently displayed the jazz discipline with absolute command on more than one occasion. 'Hold Your Fire' is a strong album with a good flow and consistency.