Another fast review of a “lost” band, this time the Dutch progressive rock band Cargo, forming in 1970 under the name September, releasing a few singles, changing personnel and name, recording a single album and breaking up shortly thereafter. I’m sure that’s a trajectory hundreds if not thousands of bands fell victim to during the same period, and truth be told Cargo the eponymous album doesn’t sound like progressive rock to my ears. Sure, it’s only four tracks with two going over the 10-minute mark, but musically this falls into a Wishbone Ash classic hard rock vein to my ears, so if that’s more your thing than twisty time changes and copious keyboards Cargo might fit the bill as a lost gem.

In fact, there aren’t any keyboards at all: Cargo the band is a twin guitar attack with brothers Jan and Ad De Hant handling six string duties, Willem De Vries on bass and vocals, and Dennis Whitbread on drums. Opening track “Sail Inside” is almost 11 minutes of harmonized leads, clean passages loaded with effects, and De Vries’s voice rising above in a very classic rock inspired way. Instrumental “Cross Talking” gets funky, and I’ll say this for Cargo: it’s immaculately produced: lots of space and a wide soundstage, solid drum tone and a deep bass. The De Hant brothers make the most of the rhythm to sound off some nice extended leads that have a composed quality to them, presaging the Thin Lizzy of it all a few years later.

“Finding Out” brings the vocals back, and the syncopated chop of the riffs show just how good Cargo could get had fortune and chance favored them just a little bit more. Finally there’s the 15 minute epic “Summerfair” kicking off with a serious Hendrix vibe before switching to Led Zeppelin: here I really get some Robert Plant vibes in De Vries vocals. But it’s fleeting, and we’re back in a sort of progressive Hendrix land. I can see some complaints of the tonal shifts being too jarring, but I really dig it, as I do the entirety of Cargo the more I listen to it.

The only release Cargo saw in the US was a CD from 2009, and that’s what I’m listening to, with another eight tracks comprised of the early singles from their September days, as well as some demos. They’re fine, but the actual album is a solid hard rocking delight, forcing me to consider just how bad I want to track down a vinyl pressing. We’ll see…