Assassin / Tales of Brave Ulysses

“…and you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses…”

I’ll admit that unlike basically everything on their same year self-titled debut, Trouble’s cover of Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” doesn’t quite roll my socks up and down. There’s something about it that’s never gelled for me, therefore I selfishly declare my gratefulness it wasn’t included on the album’s original American pressing (the lp version, anyway), for it would’ve only been successful in dragging a supremely enjoyable lp down a few heavenly clouds, at least in my thoughts.

‘A’, naturally, is for “Assassin”, in this case the single’s born a-side that strides more swiftly than the rest of the debut’s material save for pace-keeping “The Fall of Lucifer”, and the pair (along with instrumental “Endtime”) has taken responsibility for the disc’s more amped-up moments. Now, here’s an eight-songer so invariable in its greatness that cutting a clear top choice from its cloth needs some introspection, but if the five-piece’s more upbeat attitude is what salts yer sirloin, then “Assassin” should be sighted high up in yer ratings.

Maybe it’s ‘cos I’m not a huge fan of the original that this rendition falls more along the flatline rather than clearing it. I dunno whether it’s the pseudo-narration, the adjacent rhythm n’ vocal procession, or the simple fact that it’s a cover of an uncared for song that turns this track’s light off for me. I can say, however, it’s not a complete power outage for me, as my personal thumbs-up bulb blinks and fizzes to life during the cool simultaneous solos near the end that quickly disjoint and go their separate ways, at least up to a point.