Fuse's sole album is only worth paying attention to if you're a
Cheap Trick fan and want a curious glimpse of what
Rick Nielsen and
Tom Peterson were up to roughly five years before they formed the band for which they're really famous. In
Fuse, they and three other musicians played ordinary late-'60s
hard rock, influenced by
the Yardbirds and
Cream, and perhaps a bit of
Arthur Brown in the operatic vocals and
classical-tinged keyboards, but with a Midwestern industriousness. Actually, it seems a little ahead of its time in how the songwriting,
hard rock/organ combinations, long winding melodic progressions, and overly serious belting vocals of
Joe Sundberg anticipate some early-'70s
hard rock/
prog rock crossover albums. Being on the cutting edge of that particular trend is not especially praiseworthy, since the crunching songs aren't too good or memorable. ~ Richie Unterberger